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REESE  LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


35*:^' 


PICTURES    IN    UMBRIA 


TRAVEL  BOOKS  BY 
THE    SAME    WRITER. 


THROUGH  NORMANDY. 

THROUGH  BRITTANY. 

PICTURES    AND     LEGENDS    FROM 
NORMANDY  AND  BRITTANY. 

IN  THE  ARDENNES. 
ABOUT  YORKSHIRE. 

IN    THE    VOLCANIC    EIFEL  WITH 
GILBERT  S.  MACQUOID. 

IN      PARIS      WITH      GILBERT      S. 
MACQUOID. 

Illustrated  by 
THOMAS  R.  MACQUOID,  R.I. 


V 


lA    APPIA 


Fro7ttispiece.'\ 


PICTURES    IN    UMBRIA 


By  KATHARINE   S.  MACQUOID 

WITH  FIFTY  ORIGINAL  ILLUSTRATIONS 
By    THOMAS     R.    MACQUOID,    R.I. 


NEW  YORK:  CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

LONDON:     T.     WERNER     LAURIE 

MDCCCCV 


RIIESE 


f\}  (  c^ 


Fertile  costa  d\ilto  vionte  pendc, 
Onde  Perugia  sente  freddo  e  caldo 
Da  Porta  Sole,  .  .  . 

Di  quella  costa  la,  dov'ella  frange 

Pill  sua  rattezza,  nacque  al  motido  un  Sole, 
Come  fa  questo  tal  volta  di  Gauge. 

Perh  chi  d'esso  loco  fa  parole, 

Non  dica  Ascesi,  ch^  direbbe  corto, 
Ma  Oriente,  se  propria  dir  vuole. 

Non  era  ancor  inolto  lontau  dalVorto, 
Ch^  comincib  a  far  sentir  la  terra 
Delia  stia  gran  virtude  alcun  conforto.    . 

''Del  Paradiso''  Canto  XI. 


To 

ARCHIBALD   EARL   OF   ROSEBERY,   K.G. 

WHO    HAS    KINDLY    PERMITTED    US 
TO    OFFER    HIM    THE    DEDICATION 
OF  THIS   BOOK 

THOMAS  R.  AND  KATHARINE  S.  MACQUOID 

April  igos 


140572 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 

I.  An  Ancient  Hill-city 
II.  Market-day  in  Perugia    . 

III.  FoNTE  Di  Perugia 

IV.  COLLEGIO  DEL  CaMBIO  AND  THE  PiNA 

COTECA         

V.  Spello 

VI.  The  Heavenly  Choir  of  Perugia 
VII.  San  Pietro  de'  Casinensi 
VIII.  The  Sepulchre  of  the  Volumnii 
IX.  The  Via  Appia    .... 
X.  The  Way  to  Assisi    . 
XI.  San  Francesco    .... 
XII.  In  the  Town,  Assisi  . 

XIII.  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli 

XIV.  Addio  Perugia  .... 
XV.  Lake  Thrasymene  and  Cortona 

Index  


I 

13 
32 

69 
76 

97 
119 
130 
138 
165 

179 
230 
260 

295 
299 

317 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

BY  THOMAS   R.   MACQUOID,   R.I. 

PAGE 

VIA  APPIA Frontispiece 

ALOES   IN    BLOOM 12 

INITIAL — RAFFAELLE 1 3 

SAN  DOMENico Facing  i6 

SAN   DOMENICO   FOUNTAIN      ....           .           .  21 

PIAZZA  SOPRA   MURA 25 

THE  GREAT   FOUNTAIN Facing  32 

INITIAL— NICOLO  PISANO         .            .           .           .           .           .  32 

STATUE   OF    POPE  JULIUS    III 36 

INITIAL— PERUGINO 69 

DOORWAY   OF   PALAZZO   PUBBLICO  ....  Facing  70 

A   BYEWAY  TO  THE   STATION 78 

FONTANA  BORGHESE Facing  "jS 

PORTA   VENERIS — SPELLO 85 

HEAD  OF   PINTURICCHIO 88 

PORTA  AUGUSTA — SPELLO 93 

INITIAL — POTS   IN   BANDS  AT  WINDOW             ...  97 

VIA  SANT'   AGATA 99 

MADONNA   DI    LUCE IO3 

FAgADE   OF   SAN    BERNARDINO          .            .            .            .            .  I05 

FLOATING  ANGEL I06 

HEADS  OF  CHERUBIM I07 

ANGELS   PLAYING   ON    INSTRUMENT           ....  I09 

ANGEL   PLAYING IIO 

LA   VEDUTA 121 

xiii 


xiv    LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

INITIAL — girl's   head I30 

PORTA  SUSANNA Facing  138 

PORTA   EBURNEA ,,142 

OUTSIDE   PERUGIA I43 

VIA   APPIA   AND   THE   TOWN I45 

ARCO   DELLA  CONCA I49 

PORTA  AUGUSTA — PERUGIA  .    -       .  .  .  -153 

PORTA  BULIGAIA 1 56 

PORTA  SAN   ANGELO 1 59 

INITIAL— GIOTTO 165 

CONVENT  AND   CHURCH   OF   SAN    FRANCESCO  .  .  1 72 

ENTRANCE  TO  ASSISI 1 77 

STATUE  OF  ST.    FRANCIS 1 79 

CHURCH  TOWER       ...  .  .  .  .  181 

ENTRANCE  TO   LOWER   CHURCH 1 85 

THE   SMALL   CLOISTER I99 

THE  GARDEN   OF  CLOISTER 203 

THE    UPPER  CHURCH,    SAN    FRANCESCO  .  .  .  227 

OUTSIDE  SAN   FRANCESCO Facing  224 

INITIAI 260 

INITIAL — OLIVE   BRANCH 299 

LAKE   THRASYMENE 3OI 

PALAZZO   COMNUNALE,    CORTONA 305 

ETRUSCAN   CANDELABRUM 308 


NOTE 

Our  book  treats  of  a  few  of  the  Hill-cities  of  Umbria^ 
but  it  does  not  attempt  exhaustive  detail  in  regard  to 
Perugia^  Assisi,  or  any  other. 

Several  old  contemporary  writers  have  greatly  helped 
the  book,  notably  the  delightful  chronicler  Matarazzo, 
and  some  of  his  fellows ;  besides  the  "  Legend  of  the 
Three  Companions,^''  and  the  very  quaiftt  ^^  Fioretti 
di  San  Francesco.''^ 

"  The  Life  of  San  Bernardino  of  Siena"  by  Pierre 
Clement,  was  also  very  useful.  In  the  book  itself  I 
speak  of  the  great  enjoyment  I  found  in  Monsieur  Paul 
Sabbatier's  thoughtful  "  Vie  de  Saint  Francois  d^Assisi" 
and  in  Miss  Lina  Duff  Gordon's  charming  "  Story  of 
Assisi." 

KATHARINE  S.    MACQUOID. 

The  Edge,  Tooting  Common 
April  igo_5 


PICTURES   IN   UMBRIA 

CHAPTER  I 
AN  ANCIENT  HILL-CITY 

IT  has  been  said  that  the  face  which 
exercises  most  permanent  charm 
is  the  face  whose  attractions  defy 
analysis;  one  in  which  beauty  is 
subtle,  compounded  of  many  and  varied 
qualities,  so  that,  gazing  at  the  har- 
monious whole,  it  is  impossible  to 
specialise  its  fascination. 

Such  a  face  will  not,  at  first,  reveal 
its  charm,  for  much  of  this  does  not 
lie  only  in  regularity  of  feature,  or  in 
beauty  of  colouring,  nor  even  in  the 
trick  of  a  smile  ;  the  spell  is  so  potent, 
that    when    one    at    last    tries    to    find 

A  I 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

out  its  secret,  the  mind  refuses  to 
dispel  the  sweet  illusion  by  any  such 
work-a-day  process,  and  agrees  with 
the  hasheesh  smoker,  "  to  enjoy  the 
sweet  dream  while  it  lasts/' 

Places,  as  well  as  faces,  exert  this 
undefined  attraction,  but  in  the  former, 
association  often  intrudes  itself,  a  con- 
scious ingredient  in  the  witchery  they 
possess  for  us. 

I  am  just  now  thinking  of  a  city 
where  much  of  the  historic  association 
is  repulsive,  even  horrible  ;  looking  at 
the  old  grey  walls  of  Perugia,  the 
mind  strays  backward,  to  times  when 
these  ancient  palaces  with  barred  lower 
windows  were  gloomy  fortresses,  in 
which  ghastly  tragedies  were  acted  over 
and  over  again. 

In  some  of  the  old  houses  dissolute 
sons  plotted  how  to  murder  their  fathers 
and  brothers,  how  to  commit  every 
sort  of  crime ;  blood  has  run  like  water 
in  the  grass-grown  streets  and  piazzas, 
— and  not  only  with  the  blood  of  an  Oddi, 
2 


AN  ANCIENT  HILL-CITY 

shed  by  a  fierce  Baglione,  the  two  lead- 
ing families  always  fighting  for  power  in 
their  city  :  the  one  party  being  Guelph, 
and  the  other  Ghibelline. 

There  was  even  worse  strife  than 
this  :  at  times  near  and  dear  kinsmen 
fought  hand  to  hand  in  the  constant 
brawls  of  Perugia ;  murder  was  done 
in  the  churches,  even  before  the  high 
altar  of  the  cathedral. 

Softer,  quainter  memories,  however, 
linger  in  this  hill -throned  and  hill- 
girdled  city,  and  permeate  the  atmo- 
sphere, in  spite  of  the  ''  reek  of  blood" 
which,  a  poet  once  told  me,  "  taints 
Perugia/* 

Up  the  brick-stepped  way,  beneath 
a  tall  dark  arch,  came,  even  in  those 
years  of  rapine  and  murder,  the  grave 
Urbino  painter,  Giovanni  Sanzio,  with 
his  fair-haired  son,  Raffaelle.  Giovanni 
came  to  Perugia  to  place  the  lad  with 
the  illiterate  genius  of  Citta  del  Pieve, 
Pietro  Vannucci,  whose  praise  was  in 
every  one's  mouth,  and  who  had  already 
3 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

set  up  a  school  and  was  ranked  a  great 
painter.  The  Perugians  still  fondly  call 
him  "  il  nostro  Perugino."  It  is  said 
that  Pietro  was  born  in  the  ancient 
hill-city. 

One  feels  sure  that  Raffaelle  must 
have  been  petted  and  tenderly  loved. 
The  father  and  son  made  a  striking 
picture  as  they  came  from  the  dark 
archway  into  the  sunlight, — Raffaelle 
mounted  on  his  mule,  his  dainty  locks 
falling  over  his  shoulders  in  glossy  waves 
of  brightness. 

Years  before  he  came,  the  sun  saw 
a  very  different  picture,  when  poor, 
roughly  clad,  coarse-featured  Cristoforo 
Vannucci  came  trudging  along  on  foot 
from  Citta  del  Pieve,  holding  the 
red  fist  of  his  little  son,  Pietro.  The 
square -faced,  square -headed  boy  was 
only  eleven  years  old,  yet  his  father 
already  firmly  believed  in  his  genius, 
and  had  brought  him  all  the  way 
from  Citta  del  Pieve  to  present  him 
to  the  great  Umbrian  master,  Bene- 
4 


AN  ANCIENT  HILL-CITY 

detto  Bonfigli,  who  was  then  at  work 
on  the  famous  frescoes  still  to  be  seen 
in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico  of  Perugia. 
There  are,  both  in  the  Sala  del  Cambio 
and  elsewhere  in  the  city,  proofs  that 
Raffaelle  actually  worked  here,  and 
that  he  studied  under  Perugino  with 
Pinturicchio,  Lo  Spagna,  Eusebio  di 
San  Giorgio,  and  the  great  master's 
other  pupils. 

One  learns  in  Perugia  how  the  student 
from  Citta  del  Pieve  raised  the  tone 
and  widened  the  scope  of  the  existing 
Umbrian  school,  and  gave  to  it  a  grace 
and  ease,  to  say  nothing  of  higher 
qualities,  which  have  rarely  been  ex- 
celled. Yet,  except  in  the  frescoes  of 
the  beautiful  Sala  del  Cambio,  much 
of  Perugino' s  best  work  is  to  be  found 
elsewhere,  rather  than  in  the  town 
wherein  he  established  his  academy, 
and  from  which  he  took  his  name  as 
a  painter. 

The  southern  side  of  the  city  holds  a 
still  more  absorbing  association  in  the 
5 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

gate  near  the  old  church  and  convent 
of  San  Pietro  de  Casinensi ;  for  by 
this  gate  is  the  way  to  Assisi,  and  it 
has  often  been  trodden  by  Francesco 
Bernardone   and  his   disciples. 

But  I  am  straying  from  my  text : 
the  mysterious  fascination  which  the 
grey  old  city  on  the  hill  has  for  those 
who  linger  in  it. 

I  have  been  told  that  some  travellers 
'^  do  ''  Perugia  in  six  hours,  or  between 
trains ;  I  have  heard  the  Via  Appia 
compared  with  the  Holborn  Viaduct ; 
but  these  travellers  do  not  come  under 
the  spell  of  the  place  ;  they  see  only 
an  old  city,  part  Etruscan,  part  Roman, 
chiefly  mediaeval,  perched  on  top  of 
a  hill,  girt  with  massive  walls  which 
look  down  thirteen  hundred  feet  and 
more,  to  the  fertile  valley  of  the 
Tiber. 

The  steep  slopes  as  they  descend  are 

in  summer-time  silver  with  olive-groves, 

golden   with   plots   of  maize  ;   later   on 

they   are    studies    of   golden-green    and 

6 


AN  ANCIENT  HILL-CITY 

yellow,  with  richly  festooned  vines  laden 
with  fruit. 

These  rapid  travellers  may,  perhaps, 
admire  the  triple  ranges  of  purple 
Apennines  that  on  every  side  form  a 
varied  background  to  this  picturesque 
fertility,  and  to  the  lesser  hills  below 
them,  spurs  projecting  boldly  forward 
into  the  deep  valley,  above  which  the 
old  city  shows  her  towers  and  massive 
walls;  they  will,  perhaps,  notice,  as 
they  go  downhill  again,  how  quaintly 
the  wall  is  carried  in  and  out,  starwise, 
as  it  follows  the  indentations  of  the 
hills,  and  how  boldly  at  each  pro- 
jecting angle  a  warmly  tinted  tower 
stands  out  against  the  sky.  They  can 
hardly  fail  to  observe  these  salient 
features  ;  but  they  will  not  have  time 
to  study  the  varied  form  of  each  hill, 
or  to  watch  the  sun  set  opposite  grand 
old  Monte  Subasio. 

That   is   a  sight  worth  going  far  to 
see ;   the   intense   glow   dyes   the   white 
houses   of  Assisi   as   they   cling   to   the 
7 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

mountain-side,  a  pale  rose  against  the 
flame -like  orange  tint  that  seems  to 
burn  in  the  very  heart  of  Subasio, 
rather  than  to  be  reflected  from  the 
opposite  side  of  the  horizon. 

And  the  hurrying  travellers  will  not 
have  time  to  enjoy  the  charming  drives 
among  the  olives  in  the  valley,  or  to 
visit  the  many  places  of  interest  which 
can  be  reached  from  Perugia.  They 
go  home,  and  say,  ''  Oh  yes,  we  saw 
Perugia, — a  dull  old  city,  without  a 
shop  worth  looking  into.'' 

A  part  of  the  indescribable  fascination 
of  the  place  is  felt  in  long  wanderings 
through  the  narrow  streets,  often  deeply 
shadowed  by  tall  palaces  with  grated 
windows  and  bricked-up  doorways. 

Come  with  me  under  a  lofty  arch- 
way, made  with  uncemented  stones 
on  either  side,  so  huge  that  surely 
giants  must  have  placed  them  in  posi- 
tion. Now  we  are  in  a  vaulted  way, 
beneath  ancient  houses  built  over  the 
street ;  these  archways  are  frequent, 
8 


AN  ANCIENT  HILL-CITY 

sometimes  low  -  browed  and  round- 
headed,  mere  tunnels  through  which 
one  almost  gropes  one's  way,  and  finds 
at  the  farther  end  a  sudden  descent 
down  a  flight  of  half-ruined  brick  steps, 
which  turn  so  quickly  that  a  keen 
interest  insists  they  must  be  followed 
to  the  end.  Sometimes  the  arch  is 
Etruscan,  tall  and  pointed,  and  instead 
of  a  descent,  steps  go  upwards  to 
another  lofty  archway  with  a  darkness 
beyond  it  that  still  beckons  on  the 
explorer. 

Day  after  day  I  have  wandered  up 
and  down  those  twisting,  hilly  streets, 
often  losing  my  way,  and  as  often 
stumbling  upon  some  fresh  interest ; 
some  portion  of  Etruscan  wall,  or  some 
exquisite  point  of  view;  a  vista  at  the 
far-off  end  of  a  street,  and  often  when 
this  is  arrived  at,  a  grander  and  more 
varied  picture,  with  part  of  Perugia 
for   foreground. 

One  may  easily  lose  one's  way  in 
Perugia.  At  first  the  city  seemed  to 
9 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

us  a  hopeless  maze  of  twisting  streets; 
but  after  a  little  we  succeeded  in 
realising  the  peculiarity  of  its  form. 
It  is  said  to  be  that  of  a  star ;  but  it 
is  more  like  a  lobster,  with  its  head 
on  one  side,  and  outstretched  tail  and 
claws  ;  or  it  is  like  a  comet  with  star- 
shaped  sides,  the  head  on  its  long  neck 
inclined  westward,  and  a  longer  tail 
pointing  south-east. 

A  great  charm  for  those  who  stay 
in  this  city  is  the  comfortable,  home- 
like resting-place  to  be  found  in  the 
Hotel  Brufani.  On  our  first  visit  this 
hotel  was  in  progress  of  erection,  but 
its  predecessor  existed  in  the  house  on 
the  spur  of  the  hill,  outside  the  city 
gates.  We  have  been  told  that  the 
Albergo  di  Belle  Arti  is  both  very 
comfortable  and  moderate. 

I  shall  not  soon  forget  the  delight 
of  that  first  arrival. 

The  heat  was  so  intense  in  Tuscany 
that  we  could  not  travel  in  daytime, 
so  we  left  Florence  at  night,  and  had 

10 


AN  ANCIENT  HILL-CITY 

a  dull,  sleepy  journey,  arriving  at 
Perugia  towards  morning. 

As  we  came  into  the  hall  and  the 
long  corridor  of  the  hotel,  the  dim 
light  fell  mysteriously  on  plants  and 
flowers,  showing  curios  on  the  wall 
behind  them ;  to  our  joy,  when  we 
reached  our  charming  cool  room  and 
opened  the  persiennes,  we  saw  the 
exquisite  hght  of  early  morning  crown- 
ing the  dim,  far-off  hills. 

The  day  dawned  golden  with  sun- 
shine, the  air  breathed  a  dehghtful 
freshness.  We  strolled  into  the  garden, 
which  had  at  one  end  two  majestic 
aloes  in  full  bloom  and  a  group  of 
sun -flowers.  Oleanders,  covered  with 
rosy  blossoms,  stood  at  the  garden 
entrance ;  beyond  was  a  bower  of 
golden -green  acacias,  wreathed  to  their 
topmost  branches  with  blue  and  white 
morning  glories;  below  us  we  saw  a 
varied  landscape,  the  distant  hills  tinted 
with  delicate  morning  light. 

We  found  our  quarters  dehghtful,  and 
II 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

our  host  and  hostess  full  of  attentive 
kindness.  This  was  continued  when  the 
hotel  removed  to  its  present  quarters 
in  the  large  house  at  the  beginning  of 
the  city.  The  views  from  the  Brufani 
Hotel  terrace  and  windows  are  superb ; 
they  command  both  the  Val  di  Tevere 
and  several  points  of  the  town  itself. 

Alas !  both  our  good  hosts,  Signor  and 
Madame  Brufani,  have  passed  away, 
but  the  well-arranged  house  remains, 
and  is  said  to  be  very  comfortable  still. 


ALOES   IN    BLOOM. 


12 


RAFFAELLE. 


CHAPTER  II 

MARKET-DAY  IN  PERUGIA 

r  HE  day  after  our  arrival  we 
went  up  some  steps  near 
the  hotel,  bordered  by 
aloes  not  yet  in  bloom, 
and  gemmed  with  brilHant- 
eyed  lizards  darting  in  and 
out  in  the  sunshine ;  presently  we  found 
ourselves  under  the  lofty  walls  that  once 
supported  the  fortress  built  by  command 
of  Pope  Paul  III.,  on  the  site  of  the 
Baglioni  palaces.  In  this  wall  is  bricked 
up  an  ancient  Etruscan  gate — the  Porta 
Marzia,  which  came  in  the  way  of  this 
erection. 

One  is  glad,  for  the  sake  of  freedom, 
to  think  that  not  so  many  years  ag6 
the    citizens    of    Perugia    pulled    down 
13 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

and  utterly  destroyed  this  hated  for- 
tress, set  up  by  the  tyrant  Pope  when 
the  hill-city  submitted  to  his  dominion. 

From  a  picturesque  point  of  view, 
the  fortress  was  probably  more  in 
harmony  with  the  old  streets  behind 
it,  especially  with  the  frowning  walls, 
than  are  the  modern  buildings  that 
now  border  the  new  Piazza  Vittor 
Emanuele,  and  take  off  the  charm  of 
approach  on  this  side. 

One  need  not,  however,  enter  Perugia 
by  way  of  Piazza  Vittor  Emanuele. 
Keeping  below  the  huge  wall,  beside 
an  avenue  of  green  acacias,  we  climbed 
by  a  wide  flight  of  shallow  brick  steps 
past  the  picturesque  church  of  San 
Ercolano,  then  went  through  a  lofty 
archway,  with  huge  projecting  imposts, 
into  a  street  with  tall,  grey  houses  on 
either  side. 

One  of  these  was  evidently  the  back 

of  a  palace,  and  indeed  it  forms  part  of 

the  Palazzo  Baglione  which  fronts  the 

next  street.  Via  Riario;  the  very  name 

14 


MARKET-DAY  IN  PERUGIA 

Baglione  made  one  shiver,  remembering 
the  chronicles  of  that  bloodthirsty  race. 

We  halted  here  before  a  shop,  to 
its  owner,  a  well-to-do  merchant  of 
Perugia,  we  had  been  given  an  intro- 
duction ;  he  most  courteously  offered  to 
show  us  his  wine  cellar,  in  which 
is  a  portion  of  the  veritable  Etruscan 
wall  of  Perugia,  in  excellent  preserva- 
tion. Some  of  the  stones  are  about 
thirteen  feet  long  and  eighteen  inches 
thick,  huge  uncemented  blocks  of  tra- 
vertine. The  floor  of  the  cellar  is  formed 
by  the  ancient  way,  so  that  one  actu- 
ally treads  the  road  used  by  Etruscans 
before  Rome  was  thought  of ! 

The  amount  of  forced  labour  repre- 
sented by  these  walls  of  Perugia  is 
painful  to  think  of,  for  the  stones  in 
the  merchant's  cellar  must  have  been 
brought  from  a  very  great  distance.  The 
blocks  of  travertine  are  certainly  the 
finest  specimens  we  saw  in  the  city.  The 
old  wall  went  on  from  them  by  way  of 
the  Porta  Marzia  to  the  Porta  Eburnea, 
15 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

then  northwards  (there  are  visible  frag- 
ments of  it  in  the  Rione  Eburnea)  till 
it  reached  the  famous  arch  near  the 
Piazza  Grimani,  and  so  on  eastward  to 
Monte  Sole,  where  it  took  a  southern 
course  again,  to  join  the  remains  in 
Signer  Betti's  cellar. 

The  house  stands  on  the  edge  of  the 
hill,  and  from  its  back  windows  there  is 
an  extended  view^  over  the  country  on 
that  side,  and,  looking  south,  over  the 
garden  of  San  Pietro  de  Casinensi,  then 
kept  in  order  by  the  boys  of  the  reforma- 
tory. The  fine  old  machicolated  spire 
of  San  Pietro  and  the  quaint  campanile 
of  San  Domenico  are  striking  land- 
marks from  the  high  road  winding  out 
to  the  Tiber  and  Ponte  San  Giovanni. 

We  discovered  one  secret  in  the 
charm  of  Perugia  when  we  turned  from 
this  lovely  and  varied  landscape  to  the 
vivid  contrast  offered  by  the  old  grey 
street. 

Near  to  Signer  Betti's  house  is  a 
little  curiosity  shop,  and  in  its  window 
i6 


o 
u 

o 

Q 
12; 


On 


C/) 


O-     T.<, 

UNIVERS/TY 
or 


MARKET-DAY  IN  PERUGiA 

was  a  proof  that  the  beHef  in  ''  mal 
occhio  *'  still  exists  among  the  peasants. 
Hanging  from  a  rough  brass  watch  chain, 
much  the  worse  for  wear,  was  a  little 
bunch  of  hairs  from  a  horse's  tail,  set 
as  a  charm,  and  considered  to  be  a 
specific  against  '^  mal  occhio,"  or  any 
spell  cast  on  horses,  cows,  etc.  Near  it 
was  an  irregular,  stumpy  bit  of  coral,  a 
man's  safeguard  against  a  like  disaster. 

During  our  stay  in  Perugia  we  made 
acquaintance  with  Signer  Bellucci,  a 
very  learned  and  courteous  professor 
of  the  university,  who  most  kindly 
showed  us  in  his  rooms,  not  only  a 
very  interesting  and  valuable  collection 
of  implements  and  other  articles,  begin- 
ning at  the  Stone  Age,  but  also  a  collec- 
tion of  amulets  and  charms.  Some  of 
these,  especially  those  for  protection 
from  Hghtning,  are  bits  of  prehistoric 
stones,  and  exhibit  a  grotesque  minghng 
of  pagan  and  mediaeval  superstition. 

A  little  case  embroidered  with  the 
Agnus  Dei  contained  a  triangular  stone 
B  17 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

arrow-head,  and  this,  the  Professor  said, 
used  to  be  hung  at  the  bed-head  of  the 
owner,  between  pictures  of  saints  ;  on 
the  occasion  of  a  storm,  candles  were 
hghted,  and  prayers  were  offered  before 
the  amulet. 

This  collection  of  charms  amounts  to 
nearly  two  hundred  specimens ;  it  is  full 
of  interest,  and  it  would  require  many 
pages  to  do  it  justice. 

A  very  curious  amulet  was  the  frag- 
ment of  a  human  skull  enclosed  in  a 
little  brass  reliquary,  considered  to  be  a 
sovereign  protection  against  epilepsy  and 
kindred  disorders.  Tradition  said  that 
this  bit  of  bone  had  belonged  to  the 
skull  of  a  person,  dead  some  two  hundred 
years  before,  who  had  worked  so  many 
wonderful  cures  by  his  skill  in  medicine, 
and  had  lived  such  a  long  and  saintly 
life,  that  he  had  been  loved  and  vener- 
ated by  all. 

The  Professor  told  us  it  was  not  un- 
common, when  a  body  was  dug  up  in 
the  course  of  excavations,  to  find  a  bit 
i8 


MARKET-DAY  IN  PERUGIA 

of  the  skull  missing,  and  this  amulet 
doubtless  explained  the  use  that  had 
been  made  of  such  lost  fragments. 

Another  charm  was  a  little  cross  of 
hoUy-wood  carved  by  Capuchin  friars  ; 
it  had  been  found  hanging  at  an  old 
woman's  bed-head,  to  protect  her  from 
the  spells  of  a  witch.  She  would  only 
part  from  it  on  condition  that  she 
might  reserve  some  splinters  of  the 
wood,  so  as  to  prevent  the  witch  from 
visiting  her,  and  tormenting  her  for 
having  parted  from  her  safeguard. 

In  Brittany  we  often  saw  a  branch  of 
holly  hanging  beside  the  bed  for  the 
same  purpose.  There  were  corals  in  this 
Perugian  collection  of  various  shapes,  for 
women  and  children,  for  safety  in  teeth- 
ing, for  protection  against  '*  mal  occhio,'* 
to  stop  bleeding,  and  above  all,  for  the 
cure  of  melancholy.  The  dark  stone 
with  red  spots,  which  I  have  heard 
called  in  England  bloodstone,  is  said 
to  be  infallible  in  checking  bleeding  ;  it 
must  be  useful  in  a  country  where  blood- 
19 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

letting  and  leeching   are   still    common 
and  frequent  remedies. 

One  of  the  most  amusing  of  the 
charms  was  a  heart-shaped  agate  with 
a  hole  through  the  top.  This  was  found 
in  a  house  not  far  from  Perugia,  where 
from  time  immemorial  it  had  been 
held  in  reverence,  and  in  which  its 
influence  was  supposed  to  have  main- 
tained perfect  harmony  among  the  in- 
mates of  the  house.  Professor  Bellucci 
did  not  tell  us  why  its  possessors  w^re 
willing  to  give  it  up  :  did  they  w^ant 
a  little  change  from  this  perpetual 
harmony  ? 

Belief  in  witches  is  still  very  preva- 
lent in  Umbria.  They  are  said  to  haunt 
cross-roads  persistently  at  night-time,  it 
is  also  said  that  he  who  walks  late  in 
the  environs  of  Perugia  will  do  well  to 
carry  a  few  small  coins  in  his  pocket, 
and  to  fling  them  abroad  as  an  offering 
when  he  comes  near  to  a  cross-road,  for 
assuredly  a  witch  lies  there  in  ambush, 
ready  to  work  him  harm.     Also,  when 

20 


FOUNTAIN    OUTSIDE   SAN   DOMENICO. 


MARKET-DAY  IN  PERUGIA 

the  traveller  sees  in  some  unfrequented 
by-road  a  heap  of  stones  beside  the  way, 
he  must  at  once  add  another  stone  to 
this  cairn,  so  that  he  may  keep  down 
the  phantom  of  the  murdered  traveller, 
whose  unblessed  body  has  been  hastily 
put  underground  in  the  lonely  spot. 

Among  these  ciottoli,  however,  I  did 
not  see  any  of  the  charming  little  coral 
hands  to  be  found  farther  south,  with 
the  forefinger  and  little  finger,  the  other 
fingers  closed,  pointed  in  defence  against 
^'mal  occhio/'  It  is  possible  that  this 
beUef  in  the  virtue  of  coral  may  have 
originated  the  custom  of  the  long  coral 
necklace  so  frequently  worn  by  the 
peasant  women  of  Umbria. 

San  Domenico  is  near  the  Professor's 
house ;  a  flight  of  steps  leads  up  to  the 
church,  and  before  it  is  a  fountain 
bearing  on  its  side  the  Griffin  of  Perugia. 
The  lofty  campanile  makes  this  church 
conspicuous  from  every  part  of  the 
city.  It  must  have  been  tall,  indeed, 
before  the  tyrannical  Pope  ordered  its 
23 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

two  upper  storeys  to  be  demolished. 
The  original  church  is  said  to  have  been 
built  early  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
from  the  designs  of  Giovanni  Pisano ;  it 
was,  however,  almost  all  rebuilt  three 
centuries  later.  The  very  large  and 
richly  coloured  east  window,  and  the 
beautiful  tomb  with-  its  remarkable 
canopy,  were  both  in  the  first  church. 
The  tomb,  that  of  Pope  Benedict  xi., 
who  died  in  Perugia  from  eating  poisoned 
figs,  is  the  work  of  Giovanni  Pisano. 
Some  intarsia  work  in  the  choir  stalls  is 
very  good,  but  with  this  exception,  and 
the  Pope's  monument,  San  Domenico  is 
not  nearly  so  interesting  as  San  Pietro 
de'  Casinensi. 

Past  the  little  Gothic  church  of  San 
Ercolano,  and  a  line  of  acacias  with  ex- 
quisite yellow-green  foliage,  the  tender 
greys  of  the  city  seemed  suddenly  gal- 
vanised into  vivacious  colour,  for  Piazza 
Sopra  Mura  was  thronged  with  merry 
chattering  crowds  of  market  buyers  and 
sellers ;  many  of  the  handsome  peasant 
24 


MARKET-DAY  IN  PERUGIA 

women  standing  or  sitting  behind  their 
wares  wore  a  necklace  of  coral  beads. 

This  long  Piazza  is  built  on  substruc- 
tures which  connect  the  two  hills  on 
which  Perugia  stands  ;  these  substruc- 
tures are  said  to  be  in  some  places 
built  on  the  foundation  of  the  Etrus- 
can wall.  The  Piazza  itself  is  full  of 
infinite  variety  :  on  the  right  are  two 
quaint  grey  mediaeval  palaces,  with 
balconies  and  windows ;  the  Palazzo 
del  Capitano  del  Popolo  or  del  Podesta, 
and  the  ancient  university,  are  now 
used  as  Law  Courts.  One  can  fancy 
the  sometimes  inflammatory,  sometimes 
soothing  discourses  that  have  been  pro- 
nounced from  the  ringhiera  of  the  ancient 
Palazzo  del  Capitano  del  Popolo.  Nearly 
opposite  this  building  stands  a  fountain. 
The  laughing,  gesticulating,  ever-moving 
crowd  in  the  market-place,  and  the 
brilliant  hues  of  tomatoes,  melons,  and 
vegetables,  made  one's  eyes  ache.  There 
was  a  certain  sobriety  in  the  colour  of 
the  women's  gowns,  for  the  most  part 
27 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

pale  lilac  or  yellow  cotton  prints,  with 
sometimes  white  jackets  enlivened  by 
the  favourite  necklace  of  coral  beads. 

The  dark  eyes,  brilliant  skins,  and  the 
red-gold  hair  of  many  of  these  women 
actually  seemed  to  burn  under  the  gay 
flower-like  headkerchiefs,  which  looked 
at  a  little  distance  like  some  huge  tulip- 
bed,  so  bright  was  the  orange,  chocolate, 
scarlet,  and  rose  colour  mingled  with 
white  and  green.  The  laughing  women 
mostly  showed  white,  even  teeth.  The 
buzz  of  talk  and  laughter  was  so  gay 
and  animated  that  one  wondered  they 
could  manage  the  buying  and  selling 
in  such  a  hubbub. 

We  especially  noticed  an  old  dame, 
her  white  hair  showing  under  a  gay 
kerchief  with  a  sea-green  border,  and 
a  bunch  of  roses  in  the  corner  hanging 
behind  her  head.  She  too  had  a  long 
string  of  coral,  that  set  off  the  orange- 
brown  of  her  skin  and  her  clear  blue 
eyes.  Her  features  were  regular ;  she 
had  not  lost  her  teeth,  so  that  the  form 
28 


MARKET-DAY  IN  PERUGIA 

of  her  mouth  was  still  good.  She  had 
been  bargaining  and  gesticulating  with 
a  dark  lustrous-eyed  girl,  with  blue- 
black  hair,  for  a  pair  of  snowy  struggling 
pigeons,  and  when  she  went  back  to  her 
place  behind  a  basket  of  ripe  figs  she 
moved  like  an  old  Juno. 

Some  of  the  young  women  were  singu- 
larly handsome.  Among  these  peasants 
and  the  people  of  Perugia  we  noticed 
two  distinct  types  of  face :  regular 
features  and  deeply  set  eyes,  like  the 
faces  in  the  old  tomb  of  the  Volumni, 
were  frequent ;  some  of  these  faces  had 
blue  eyes  and  beautiful  red-gold  hair, 
and  were  set  on  round  pillar-like  throats 
and  well  -  developed  figures.  Others — 
and  perhaps  the  greater  number  of  the 
town  shop-keeping  class — had  a  far  less 
refined  type  of  face,  turned-up  noses 
and  sensual  mouths ;  though  many  of 
them  were  very  attractive,  especially 
when  they  wore  the  graceful  black  lace 
mantilla,  so  well  suited  to  their  brilliant 
complexions,  dark  shining  eyes,  and  full 
29 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

red  lips.  Some  of  the  men  were  also 
handsome,  but  not  so  well  grown  as  the 
women  were. 

Probably  the  custom  of  carrying  a 
huge  basket  or  a  tall  pitcher  on  her  head, 
up  and  down  the  hills  and  hilly  streets, 
gives  to  the  peasant  woman  in  Umbria 
the  stately  grace  that  distinguishes  her 
movements. 

These  peasants  seem  to  take  an  interest 
in  foreigners,  and  are  much  pleased  to 
be  spoken  to  by  them.  One  girl  who 
kept  a  handkerchief  stall  greatty  amused 
us.  I  had  been  trying  to  bargain  with 
her  for  some  of  her  gaily-coloured  wares, 
but  she  asked  such  a  price  that  I  turned 
away ;  she  came  after  me,  almost  crying : 

''  If  the  signora  will  explain  her  ideas 
on  the  subject,  we  may  be  able  to 
arrange,''  she  said. 

I  am  bound  to  say  that  we  met  with 
much  courtesy  and  fair  dealing  in 
Perugia.  Even  at  the  fruit-stalls,  where 
we  stood  studying  heaps  of  lemons, 
full  of  colour  from  bluish  green  to  most 
30 


MARKET-DAY  IN  PERUGIA 

golden  of  yellows,  the  owner  left  us  in 
peace,  and  seemed  pleased  that  we 
should  take  our  fill  of  gazing. 

But  the  market  is  soon  over ;  the 
baskets  empty  quickly ;  the  unhappy 
turkeys  and  cocks  and  hens,  tied  by  the 
feet,  are  soon  handed  over  head  down- 
wards to  fresh  owners  ;  the  lemon  heaps, 
some  exquisitely  green,  with  a  leaf  or 
so  hanging  from  the  fruit  stalks,  have 
dwindled  till  the  remaining  fruit  lies 
fiat  on  the  large  board  near  the  fountain  ; 
of  the  scarlet  army  of  tomatoes  not  one 
is  left,  and  all  the  cool,  pink-fleshed 
slices  of  water  melon,  sown  with  black 
seeds,  have  disappeared. 


3t 


CHAPTER  III 


NICOLO  PISANO. 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

next  morning  we  took  our 
way  up  a  side  turning  into 
the  Corso,  the  handsomest 
street  in  Perugia.  The  shop 
windows  had  the  day  before 
been  made  extra  gay,  to  at- 
tract the  market-sellers;  they  still  showed 
long  strings  of  cut  coral  beads. 

There  is  a  mass  of  fine,  as  well  as 
interesting,  fourteenth  century  building 
on  the  left  of  the  Corso  :  the  Collegio  del 
Cambio,  and  the  Palazzo  del  Pubblico, 
or,  as  it  is  also  called,  Palazzo  Comunale. 
This  has  a  richly  -  sculptured  doorway, 
and  ends  on  the  Piazza  del  Duomo  ; 
it  has  quaint  iron  lamps.  On  this 
Piazza,  and  facing  us,  we  saw  the  un- 
32 


< 
Pi 

o 
w 

X 


< 
^; 
o 


h 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

finished  stone  and  brick  work  of  the 
Cathedral,  San  Lorenzo,  with  its  out- 
side pulpit,  from  which  St.  Bernardino 
preached  to  the  people. 

On  the  left  stands  the  Palace  called 
the  Canonica  or  Seminary,  with  its 
cloisters.  This  belonged  to  the  clergy, 
and  was  the  dwelling  of  those  Popes 
who  stayed  in  Perugia  during  their 
visits  to  the  city,  so  greatly  beloved 
and  coveted  by  the  Holy  See. 

In  the  centre  of  the  Piazza  stands  the 
famous  fountain  usually  ascribed  to 
Nicolo  Pisano,  but  said  to  have  been 
designed  by  Era  Bevignate,  a  native 
of  the  city.  However,  the  great  Pisan 
sculptor  and  his  son  Giovanni  made 
the  two  large  marble  basins,  and  sculp- 
tured the  panels  which  decorate  them. 
Nicolo,  whose  quaint  costume  is  given 
in  the  initial,  is  said  to  have  sculptured 
the  twenty-four  statues,  now  dark  with 
age,  but  remarkable  for  the  sharpness 
of  their  exquisite  carving  ;  two  of  the 
statues  are,  however,  restorations.  The 
c  33 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA  ' 

delicate  bas-reliefs  of  the  second  basin 
are  ascribed  to  Giovanni  Pisano,  and  are 
full  of  variety  ;  the  upper  basin,  with 
nymphs  and  lions  and  the  inevitable 
griffin  of  Perugia,  is  supposed  to  have 
been  cast  in  bronze  by  Rossi ;  water 
no  longer  plays  from  this  fountain.  It 
is  very  beautiful,  but  it  wears  a  sad 
and  desolate  aspect,  in  perfect  harmony 
with  the  terrible  tragedies  which  have 
been  so  often  enacted  on  this  square. 

The  finest  side  of  the  Palazzo  Pubblico 
is  that  which  faces  the  Cathedral ;  it  has 
a  charming  loggia  and  a  grand  double 
flight  of  steps  guarded  by  the  Guelphic 
lion  and  the  Perugian  griffin.  There 
are  still  traces  on  this  fine  old  wall 
showing  where  the  keys  of  two  cities, 
Siena  and  Assisi,  were  hung  in  chains 
by  the  arrogant  Perugians,  till,  in  one  of 
the  attacks  on  the  city,  some  mercenary 
soldiers  wrenched  them  away.  The 
griffin,  the  quaint  emblem  of  Perugia, 
is  to  be  found  repeated  in  all  the  decor- 
ative work  of  the  city.  The  Palazzo 
34 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

Pubblico  was  built  early  in  the  fourteenth 
century  from  the  design  of  the  Bene- 
dictine, Era  Bevignate.  The  heads  of 
criminals  used  to  be  fixed  on  the  steel 
lances  which  project  from  it.  When 
the  criminals  had  been  guilty  of  treason 
their  heads  were  hung  downwards.  It 
was  a  custom  in  Perugia  to  confine 
criminals  in  an  iron  cage  hung  on  this 
old  wall,  the  miserable  creatures  being 
left  to  starve  to  death  in  the  cage ! 
The  horrible  dungeons  below  can  still 
be  seen ;  they  give  one  some  idea  of 
the  cruelties  enacted'  in  the  Middle 
Ages. 

The  cathedral  of  San  Lorenzo,  on  the 
Piazza  del  Duomo,  is  spacious  rather 
than  interesting,  except  for  its  associa- 
tions :  three  Popes  who  died  in  Perugia 
are  buried  in  one  tomb  in  a  transept, 
and  in  a  chapel  is  preserved  the  marriage- 
ring  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  We  noticed 
some  good  wood  carving  in  the  stalls. 

On  the  right,  beyond  the  cathedral 
and  its  square,  is  the  little  Piazza  del 
35 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 


Papa.  On  this  a  bronze  statue,  vivid 
green  in  colour,  is  raised  high  on  a 
pedestal.  An  inscription  tells  that  the 
statue  represents  Pope  Julius  in.,  and 
is  the  work  of  Vincenzo  Danti. 

The  grand  old  Pope  has  been  sitting 
enthroned  outside 
the  cathedral  doors 
for  more  than  three 
hundred  years,  with 
hand  outstretched, 
in  the  act  of  bless- 
ing. It  almost 
seems  that  during 
these  long  years 
the  golden  sunshine, 
mingled  with  the 
intense  blue  of  the 
sky,  has  created  the 
brilliant  colour  of  the  bronze,  this  vivid 
green  which  rivals  that  of  the  lizards 
as  they  dart  in  and  out  of  the  grey  old 
wall  behind  the  Duomo. 

Looking  at  the  old  Pope  under  different 
aspects, — in  the  sparkle  of  morning  sun- 
36 


BRONZE   STATUE   OF 
POPE   JULIUS    III. 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

shine,  in  its  full  meridian  glow,  or  in  the 
gloom  that  comes  to  Perugia  so  swiftly 
at  the  heels  of  day, — one  gets  to  see 
a  different  expression  in  the  Pontiff's 
immovable  face. 

In  the  morning  it  beams  on  the 
crowd  of  crockery  sellers,  and  their 
wares  spread  out  on  the  stones  around 
its  pedestal,  and  points  proudly  to  the 
grand  group  presented  by  the  fountain 
and  the  Palazzo  Comunale ;  at  midday 
the  expression  is  harder;  but  at  even- 
tide a  pensive  cast  comes  over  the 
face,  more  in  keeping  with  the  grass- 
grown  street  behind  the  statue,  and 
the  ancient  grey  palaces. 

This  bronze  Pope,  Julius  iii.,  was  not 
sitting  here  at  the  time  of  the  famous 
preaching  of  San  Bernardino  of  Siena, 
on  the  Piazza  del  Duomo,  when  the 
Perugians  flung  their  grandest  vanities 
into  a  heap  and  burned  them  as  a  proof 
of  penitence,  as  the  Tuscans  did  at 
Florence  in  the  days  of  Savonarola. 
This  preaching  of  San  Bernardino  is 
37 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

commemorated  in  an  old  but  restored 
window  in  the  cathedral. 

Behind  the  adjoining  Piazza  dei  Gigli, 
an  open  square  in  front  of  the  Sorbello 
Palazzo,  is  a  way  going  steeply  upwards 
to  the  right ;  it  has  bricked  steps  in  the 
middle,  but  at  the  side  of  these  is  a  long 
strip  of  ascending  slope,  so  irregularly 
paved  that  it  might  serve  as  a  specimen 
pattern  of  the  variously  paved  streets 
in  the  town.  Tufts  of  grass  between  the 
stones  show  that  this  way  is  not  much 
used.  Its  right  side  is  walled  by  the 
church  of  Santa  Maria  Nuova,  and  high 
above  it  on  the  left  are  some  quaint 
houses.  This  road  leads  to  San  Severo, 
a  little  chapel  containing  what  is  called 
Raffaelle's  first  fresco,  unhappily  very 
much  restored.  The  view  of  the  country 
between  the  houses  near  it  is  more 
interesting  than  the  painting. 

This  is  a  very  old  part  of  the  town ; 

presently,    through    a    tunnel    under    a 

low-browed  arch,  we  came  out  on  the 

Piazza  of  Monte  Sole,  surrounded  by  old 

38 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

palaces.  This  Piazza  marks  the  summit 
of  one  of  the  two  hills  on  which  ancient 
Perugia  was  built  by  the  Etruscans ; 
the  other  hill,  CoUe  Landone,  is  crowned 
by  Palazzo  Donnini,  and  till  the  time 
of  wise  and  valiant  Forte  Braccio,  who, 
though  cruel,  seems  to  have  been  the 
best  ruler  the  Perugians  can  boast  of, 
the  valley  between  these  two  hills 
existed. 

Forte  Braccio  caused  it  to  be  filled 
up,  and  the  Piazza  Sopra  Mura,  where 
the  weekly  market  is  held,  takes  its 
name  from  the  levelling  and  sub-struc- 
tures then  effected. 

It  was  from  Piazza  Monte  Sole  that 
the  despotic  Abbot  Monmaggiore  fled 
along  the  covered  way  he  had  made  to 
connect  his  citadel  of  Monte  Sole  with 
his  palaces  at  Porta  San  Antonio.  On 
this  occasion  the  nobles  joined  hands 
with  the  citizens  against  the  conspiring 
French  priest,  drove  the  foreigners  out 
of  the  city,  and  for  the  time  freed 
Perugia  from  the  hated  Papal  yoke. 
39 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Going  on  from  the  Piazza  Monte  Sole, 
a  few  steps  bring  us  to  a  tree-shaded 
terrace  with  benches  placed  along  it. 
There  is  a  grand  view  from  the  wall 
that  bounds  the  terrace,  and  seems  to 
go  straight  down  into  the  valley.  Just 
below  is  the  red  cupola-topped  church 
of  Santa  Maria  Nuova,  while  the  houses 
of  the  town  lay  thickly  clustered 
below.  The  ancient  wall  from  which 
we  now  gaze  runs  out  northward  on 
the  right,  and  on  the  left  goes  on  till 
it  reaches  the  famous  Etruscan  arch 
near  the  Piazza  Grimani.  Beyond  are 
the  heights,  on  one  of  which  stands  the 
convent  of  San  Francesco,  outside  the 
extreme  northern  point  marked  by  the 
gate  of  San  Angelo  ;  from  this  we  get 
a  ghmpse  of  Subasio.  Going  out  behind 
the  terrace  we  see  the  Duomo  close  by, 
and  soon  find  our  way  back  to  the 
Cor  so. 

Perugia  was  never  weak;  rather  she 
was  in  all  things  powerful,  and  she 
produced  a  race  of  the  most  renowned 
40 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

Condottieri  of  Italy,  the  bloodthirsty 
Baglioni.  Had  the  brutal  nobles  and  the 
proud  citizens  been  able  to  control  their 
passions,  and  to  discipline  their  ambi- 
tion ;  had  they  been  able  to  behave,  in 
fact,  like  Christians,  Perugia  might  have 
held  sovereign  sway  in  Umbria. 

Instead  of  this,  though  nominally 
governed  by  the  Podesta,  or  chief  magis- 
trate and  the  Priori,  she  was  frequently 
forced  to  defend  herself  against  Papal 
plots  and  aggression ;  almost  constantly 
against  the  tyranny  of  her  rival  nobles, 
and  the  mischiefs  caused  by  their  brawls 
between  themselves,  and  with  the  Ras- 
panti,  among  whom  were  the  richest  and 
most  powerful  of  the  citizens. 

Through  these  centuries,  from  the 
thirteenth  to  the  sixteenth,  the  Piazza 
del  Duomo  often  ran  with  blood.  It 
was  the  chief  scene  of  the  fierce  struggles 
which  make  the  eventful  history  of  the 
hill-city  ;  for  until  the  time  of  Paul  the 
Third,  Perugia  never  entirely  submitted 
to  the  personal  sway  of  an  alien  ruler, 
41 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

though  she  frequently  banished  both 
nobles  and  Raspanti. 

There  was  a  short  period  of  compar- 
ative peace  when,  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  the  Condottiere  Biordo  Michel- 
otti  entered  the  city  at  the  head  of  the 
banished  Raspanti,  and  became  supreme 
ruler  in  the  name  of  the  people.  Broils 
were  still  frequent  between  the  nobles 
and  the  plebs,  but  Biordo  was  the  first 
of  the  brigand  despots  who  tried  to 
free  Perugia  from  Papal  encroach- 
ments. 

Warlike,  wicked  Guidalotti,  Abbot  of 
San  Pietro,  jealously  watched  the  Cap- 
tain's success,  and  justly  estimated  his 
power ;  he  resolved  to  end  it,  and  to 
restore  the  influence  of  the  Holy  See  in 
Perugia. 

Biordo,  a  valiant,  hard-working  ruler, 
had  asked  in  marriage  the  beautiful 
Lucrezia  Orsini,  with  whom  he  hoped, 
now  that  the  city  enjoyed  comparative 
quiet,  to  end  his  days  in  peace.  The 
Abbot  thought  that  these  bridal  festiv- 
42 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

ities  would  give  him  the  opportunity  he 
sought. 

A  few  days  after  the  marriage  the 
wily  priest  rode  up  from  San  Pietro 
on  horseback  to  the  higher  part  of 
the  town.  He  here  collected  his  bravi 
together,  and  rode  on  to  Michelotti's 
palace  on  Monte  Sole.  As  soon  as 
Michelotti  came  down  to  greet  his  visitor 
the  Abbot  put  his  arm  round  him  and 
kissed  him.  At  this  signal  the  other 
ruffians  at  once  attacked  the  unarmed 
governor,  and  killed  him  with  their 
poisoned  daggers. 

After  Biordo  Michelotti,  came  early  in 
the  next  century  the  valiant  and  wise 
Forte  Braccio,  who  greatly  improved 
the  condition  of  the  city,  and  repressed 
licence  and  disorder.  But  this  brave 
(though  cruel)  soldier  and  sagacious  ruler 
was  defeated  in  battle,  and  died  from 
the  wounds  he  received.  This  was  a 
terrible  loss;  it  alarmed  the  Perugians, 
for  though  Forte  Braccio  was  of  noble 
birth,  being  Conte  di  Montone,  he  had 
43 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

protected  the  city  against  the  outrages 
of  the  fierce  and  brutal  Oddi,  BagHoni, 
Corgna,  and  others.  The  citizens,  in 
their  despair  at  the  loss  of  their  ruler, 
made  overtures  to  Pope  Martin,  who 
received  them  with  open  arms. 

At  this  the  nobles  felt  all  their  power 
restored ;  they  knew  the  Pope  would  side 
with  them  against  the  people,  and,  quit- 
ting their  houses  in  the  country  around 
the  city,  they  estabhshed  themselves  in 
palaces  chiefly  in  the  vicinity  of  Porta 
Marzia,  whence  it  was  easy  to  overawe 
the  town. 

After  Forte  Braccio's  death,  one  of  his 
soldiers,  a  singularly  brave  and  capable 
man,  named  Nicola  Piccinino,  tried  to 
wrest  supreme  power  both  from  the 
Pope  and  the  nobles.  The  Perugians 
suffered  terribly,  for,  while  the  long 
struggle  lasted,  the  Pope,  the  nobles, 
and  Piccinino,  who  was  Hked  by  the 
people  and  idohsed  by  the  army,  all 
levied  taxes  on  them ;  Nicola  at  last 
ceased  his  efforts  to  attain  supreme 
44 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

power,  and  accepted  from  the  Pope  the 
post  of  GonfaHonere,  chief  magistrate  of 
the  city,  in  the  pontiff's  name. 

The  nobles  at  this  period  were  left 
unhindered  to  brawl  as  they  pleased. 
The  Baglioni,  a  race  of  men  so  renowned 
for  crime,  strength,  bravery,  and  beauty, 
that  they  recall  the  heroes  of  the  Iliad ^ 
and  one  wonders  whether  the  old  pagans 
were  not  better  men  than  those  so-called 
Christians,  were  always  at  war  with  the 
Oddi,  till  at  last  they  worsted  their 
rivals,  and  drove  them  out  of  Perugia ; 
then  they  fell  out  among  themselves. 
During  their  last  struggle  with  the  Oddi 
they  took  possession  of  the  cathedral  and 
fortified  it. 

After  the  banishment  of  the  Oddi 
the  power  of  the  Baglioni  greatly  in- 
creased ;  it  became  almost  supreme. 
The  Pope  had  given  them  the  lordship 
of  Spello ;  they  also  owned  Spoleto,  and 
some  others  of  the  hill-cities  of  Umbria. 
These  possessions  brought  them  great 
wealth.  They  were  cruel  and  tyrannical 
45 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

despots  ;  they  appointed  civic  officials  ; 
it  was  even  said  that  no  legate  ventured 
to  visit  the  city  unless  he  was  a  friend 
of  the  Baglioni. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century  some  of  the  poorer  and  more 
obscure  members  of  this  powerful  clan, 
or,  as  the  old  chronicler  Matarazzo  terms 
them,  ''  beautiful  Baglioni,*'  murmured 
loudly  against  their  richer  kinsfolk. 
They  were  just  as  indolent,  just  as  brutal 
and  licentious,  and  in  proportion  to  their 
means  fully  as  arrogant  and  prodigal. 
But  people  were  not  afraid  of  them ; 
they  had  neither  wealth  to  keep  bravi 
with,  nor  influence  to  support  and 
further  their  pretensions.  These  poor 
relations  could  no  longer  endure  their 
dependent  position  ;  they  saw  that  if  the 
sons  of  the  elder  house  were  disposed 
of,  they  should  have  a  chance  of 
coming  to  their  own.  At  present  they 
were  completely  shadowed  by  the  wealth 
and  haughty  self-assertion  of  their 
cousins ;  they  also  coveted  their  posses- 
46 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

sions,  and  longed  to  divide  them  among 
themselves. 

The  heads  of  the  Baglione  house  were 
the  two  brothers,  Guido  and  Ridolfo. 
Guido  had  five  stalwart  sons,  as  much 
noted  for  their  prowess  and  heroic 
bravery,  as  for  their  good  looks;  these 
were  Astorre,  x\driano  (usually  called 
Morgante,  because  of  his  wonderful 
strength),  Marcantonio,  Gismondo,  and 
Gentile.  Ridolfo' s  sons  were  Troilo, 
Gianpaolo,  and  Simonetto. 

Besides  the  splendid  sons  of  Guido 
and  Ridolfo,  there  was  yet  another  very 
wealthy  and  distinguished  scion  of  the 
Baglione  family,  their  young  cousin 
Grifonetto.  He  was  happily  married  to 
a  young  and  beautiful  wife,  and  was  on 
friendly  terms  with  all  his  cousins.  His 
father,  Grifone,  had  died  young  in  battle ; 
his  still  young  and  lovely  mother,  Atalanta 
Baglione,  was  extremely  rich.  She  so 
greatly  loved  Grifonetto,  her  only  child, 
that  she  remained  a  widow  for  his  sake, 
and  gave  up  her  own  home  to  live  with 
47 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

him  and  his  fair  young  wife,  Zenobia 
Sforza,  in  the  splendid  palace  he  had 
built  near  Porta  Marzia. 

A  few  years  before  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  the  banished  Oddi 
faction  thought  fit  to  attack  the  city  ; 
they  rode  suddenly  in  through  the  gates, 
and  began  to  strike  at  the  chains  stretched 
across  the  street  for  defence  against 
sudden  attacks.  The  first  to  give  the 
alarm  was  Simonetto  Baglione,  a  young 
and  beardless  youth,  who,  though  of  a 
fierce  and  cruel  nature,  was  heroically 
brave.  He  rushed  forth  in  his  shirt, 
armed  only  with  sword  and  shield,  and 
held  the  squadron  of  advancing  Oddi  at 
bay  before  the  barrier  that  defended  the 
Piazza.  Soon  ten  of  his  adversaries 
lay  dead  at  his  feet.  Till  he  had  killed 
many  more  he  persevered  in  attacking 
the  foe  with  intense  fury,  until  he  had 
received  twenty-two  wounds.  Then  his 
cousin  Astorre  rode  forth  to  help  him. 
''  Go  and  tend  your  wounds,  Simonetto," 
he  cried,  and  dashed  at  the  common 
48 


^ 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 


or 


enemy  ;  a  falcon  flashed  on  his  gilded 
helmet,  with  the  griffin's  tail  sweeping 
behind  it.  At  once  he  became  a  target 
for  the  Oddi,  their  blows  fell  so  thick 
and  fast  that  each .  hindered  the  other 
from  striking  truly;  nothing  could  be 
heard  above  the  din  of  the  strokes  made 
by  lances,  partizans,  crossbow  quarries, 
and  other  weapons  falling  on  Astorre's 
body;  the  sound  of  those  great  blows 
overbore  the  noise  and  shouting  of  the 
combatants.  But  the  noble  Astorre  was 
undismayed  by  the  horrid  clamour,  he 
rode  his  horse  into  the  thickest  of  the 
fight,  and  trampled  the  Oddi  under 
foot ;  while  his  horse,  being  a  most 
fierce  animal,  gave  the  enemy  what 
trouble  it  could,  for  so  soon  as  they  were 
jostled  and  overthrown  by  his  rider, 
the  beast  trampled  on  them.  By  the 
time  that  the  other  Baglioni  heroes 
sallied  forth  to  help  him,  Astorre  and 
his  war-horse  were  overdone,  they  could 
scarce  breathe. 
The  Oddi  were  again  driven  from  the 
D  49 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

city,  but  a  war  followed  which  devastated 
the  fertile  country  between  Perugia  and 
Assisi. 

All  through  these  fearful  times  of 
strife  and  bloodshed  Art  was  progressing 
quietly  and  surely  in  Perugia.  Raffaelle 
was  at  this  time  working  in  the  atelier 
of  Perugino,  and  it  is  thought  that 
he  must  have  witnessed  this  splendid 
defence  of  Astorre  Baglione,  and  that 
he  afterwards  reproduced  the  young 
warrior,  his  helmet  crowned  by  a  falcon 
and  tail  of  griffin,  in  the  St.  George  of 
the  Louvre,  and  the  trampling  horseman 
in  the  Heliodorus  Stanza  of  the  Vatican. 

After  this  achievement  the  Baglioni 
seem  to  have  had  a  short  time  of  family 
peace.  This  was  soon  interrupted.  Gri- 
fonetto's  wealth,  the  splendid  palace  in 
which  he  lived  with  his  lovely  mother 
and  Zenobia  Sforza,  his  beautiful  wife, 
helped  to  make  him,  young  though  he 
was,  the  most  powerful  member  of  the 
family.  He  and  his  wife  dearly  loved 
50 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

each  other,  and  the  chronicler  says,  *'No 
wonder,  for  they  were  as  beautiful  as 
angels/'  But  for  evil  counsellors,  and 
the  restless  ambition  of  the  Baglioni, 
this  state  of  affairs  might  have  lasted. 
Three  of  the  evil  and  disappointed 
relatives  clung  to  Grifonetto  like  lim- 
pets ;  these  were  his  uncle  Filippo,  his 
cousin  Carlo  Baciglia  Baglione,  and  a 
scandalously  dissolute  scoundrel  named 
J eronimo  della  Penna  or  Arciprete .  They 
took  counsel  together  as  to  how  the 
sons  of  Guido  and  Ridolfo  Baglione 
could  be  easiest  put  out  of  the  way, 
so  that  their  wealth  and  power  might  be 
divided  among  the  conspirators.  Too 
poor  and  of  too  ill-repute  to  act  alone, 
they  saw  that  their  patron  Grifonetto 
had  all  they  lacked,  and  they  resolved 
to  persuade  him  to  head  their  con- 
spiracy. At  first  they  strove  to  win 
him  by  the  offer  of  supreme  power  in 
Perugia ;  he  could  revolt,  they  said, 
against  the  Papal  yoke,  and  become 
sovereign  ruler  in  the  city.  Grifonetto 
51 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

was  not  ambitious ;  he  had  all  he 
wanted, — their  proposals  did  not  tempt 
him. 

Astorre  was  about  to  wed  a  Roman 
bride,  Lavinia,  the  daughter  of  a  Colonna 
father  and  an  Orsini  mother,  and  the 
malcontent  Baglioni  decided  that  this 
marriage,  which  was  to  happen  at  the 
end  of  July,  would  be  a  great  oppor- 
tunity for  ridding  themselves  of  their 
hated  kindred,  as  it  would  assemble 
every  member  of  the  family  in  Perugia, 
except  Marcantonio,  who,  being  out  of 
health,  was  taking  baths  at  Naples. 

The  conspirators  took  fresh  counsel 
together  ;  the  time  fixed  for  the  marriage 
was  now  close  at  hand,  they  must  at  once 
win  over  Grifonetto  to  their  schemes. 
They  therefore  told  him  that  Zenobia, 
the  beautiful  wife  he  so  adored,  was 
unfaithful  to  him,  with  his  cousin  Gian- 
paolo,  one  of  the  sons  of  Ridolfo  Baglione. 

Grifonetto  was  furious ;  in  his  mad 
jealousy  he  believed  this  story,  and 
thirsted  for  vengeance  :  he  consented 
52 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

to  head  the  conspiracy,  and  to  rid  the 
city  of  the  elder  branch  of  his  family 
by  a  wholesale  murder. 

Among  the  conspirators  were  Jeronimo 
della  Staffa,  three  members  of  the  Corgna 
family  and  others  ;  only  two  of  those 
who  engaged  in  this  bloodthirsty  scheme 
were  over  thirty  years  old. 

The  Baglioni  were  chiefly  lodged  in 
houses  on  or  near  the  Porta  Marzia; 
Astorre  and  his  bride,  on  the  night  of 
the  murder,  were  lodged  in  the  beautiful 
palace  of  Grifonetto,  which  was  the 
wonder  of  Perugia,  and  always  pointed 
out  to  strangers  as  a  marvel  of  magnifi- 
cence both  inside  and  out.  Among  his 
other  treasures,  Grifonetto  possessed  a 
lion ;  Astorre  and  Gianpaolo,  the  sons  of 
Guido  and  Ridolfo  Baglione,  each  owned 
one  of  the  royal  beasts,  and  their  fearful 
roaring  at  night  struck  terror  to  the 
hearts  of  belated  Perugians  on  their  way 
home. 

It   had   been   arranged   that   as   soon 
as    the    proposed    victims    were    asleep 
53 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

the  signal  should  be  given  ;  this  was  to 
be  a  stone  thrown  from  the  loggia  of 
the  Magnifico  Guido's  palace,  into  the 
court  below. 

Banquets,  jousts,  all  kinds  of  magnifi- 
cent festivities  had  gone  on  for  days  past. 
That  night  a  great  supper  was  given, 
at  which  the  conspirators  were  present ; 
they  appeared  to  be  on  the  most  friendly 
terms  with  the  others,  and  were  even 
affectionate  and  caressing  to  all, — yet 
the  traitors  had  decided  who  was  to 
be  the  murderer  of  each  victim,  and 
the  number  of  bravi  by  which  each 
murderer  should  be  accompanied  in  case 
of  resistance. 

At  last  the  time  arrived.  The  victims, 
heavy  with  wine,  had  retired  to  rest, 
they  slept  undisturbed  by  the  roaring 
of  the  lions.  Then  the  signal  was 
given  ;  each  assassin  stood  ready  at  the 
appointed  door.  Carlo  Baglione,  who 
seems  to  have  been  the  mainspring  of 
^'el  gran  tradimento,*'  as  the  chronicler 
Matarazzo  calls  it,  made  first  for  the 
54 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

sleeping  -  chamber   of   the   head  of    the 
family,  the  ''Magnifico  Guido/'  but  he 
turned  aside  to  that  of  young  Simonetto. 
Jeronimo  della  Penna  forced  open  the 
door    of    the    noble    Gismondo ;    while 
Grifonetto  himself  attacked  Gianpaolo, 
Filippo    de    Braccio    and    one    of    the 
Corgna    family   unlocked   the    door    of 
valiant   Astorre,  who,   asleep   with   his 
newly-married  wife,  was   thus   murder- 
ously    awakened ;     the     young    fellow 
opened  the  door,  and,  seeing  his  mur- 
derers, he  guessed  the  truth.     As  they 
attacked  him  he  cried  out,  ''  Wretched 
Astorre,  who  dies  like  a  coward/'     His 
young  wife  rushed  up  to  him,  and  flung 
her  arms  round  him,  trying  to  make  her 
body    a    shield    between    him    and    his 
assailants,  but  they  had  already  stabbed 
him  with  many  more  blows  than  would 
have  sufficed  to  kill  him,  and  she  too 
received    a    wound.      Then    the    brutal 
Filippo   di  Braccio,  seeing  how  large   a 
wound  was   in  iVstorre's   breast,  thrust 
in   his   hand,   tore   out   his   heart,   and 
55 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

savagely  bit  it.  After  this  he  and  his 
accompHce  flung  the  body  of  Astorre 
down  the  stairs  and  into  the  street, 
where  presently  the  murdered  Simonetto 
lay  beside  it.  He  had  wakened,  and, 
seeing  the  murderers  kill  the  companion 
who  lay  in  his  chamber,  armed  himself, 
and  fought  his  way  through  the  villainous 
crowd  of  bravi,  till  he  reached  the  foot 
of  the  stairs;  here  fresh  assailants  de- 
spatched him.  Simonetto's  uncle  Guido 
had  also  time  to  snatch  up  his  sword ;  but, 
powerful  though  he  was,  he  was  killed. 

Grifonetto  was  less  successful  than  his 
fellow-conspirators.  Gianpaolo,  the  most 
daring  of  the  elder  branch  of  the  Baglioni, 
had  taken  alarm,  and  so  had  his  squire. 
But  Gianpaolo  was  sagacious  as  well  as 
brave,  and,  not  knowing  who  were  his 
assailants,  he  bade  his  squire  guard  the 
staircase  which  led  from  his  chamber 
to  the  roof,  while  he  tried  to  escape  over 
the  tops  of  the  other  palaces. 

The  squire  fought  valiantly,  and  held 
his   post   for   some  time, — the  staircase 

56 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

turned,  and  gave  him  a  point  of  vantage 
over  his  assailants  from  below.  Gian- 
paolo  reached  the  roof,  and  crawled  over 
it  till,  coming  to  the  skylight  of  his  cousin 
Grifonetto's  palace,  he  had  a  mind, 
in  his  ignorance  as  to  the  conspirators, 
to  seek  shelter  there;  but  he  gave  up 
the  idea,  and  climbed  through  a  window 
into  another  house,  owned  by  one  of  the 
citizens;  the  good  man  within  was  so 
terrified  at  the  sight  of  Baglione,  that, 
in  his  fear,  he  refused  to  harbour  the 
great  noble.  Gianpaolo,  going  back  to 
the  roof,  found  his  way  into  the  atelier 
of  some  foreign  artists,  who  were  also 
greatly  alarmed  at  his  appearance  among 
them.  One  of  them,  however,  named 
Achille  de  la  Mandola,  seems  to  have 
greatly  helped  the  fugitive. 

Gianpaolo  finally  made  his  way  out 
into  the  street ;  and  soon  after  out  of  the 
city.  Seeing  a  mule  grazing  by  the  way- 
side, he  at  once  mounted  it,  though  he 
was  greatly  disturbed  to  quit  Perugia 
without  having  either  discovered  the 
57 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

meaning  of  this  night  attack,  or  taken 
vengeance  on  the  unknown  assassins. 
In  the  meantime  day  had  broken,  and 
Gentile  BagHone,  who  Hved  some  way 
from  his  father's  house,  had  been  also 
attacked  by  the  conspirators  ;  he  escaped 
them  at  once,  by  mounting  his  horse 
and  riding  away.  Just  as  he  reached 
the  bridge  beyond  the  plain,  he  was 
amazed  to  recognise  his  elder  cousin 
Gianpaolo,  riding  in  the  same  direction 
on  a  mule. 

When  Atalanta,  Grifonetto's  beautiful 
young  mother,  heard  of  the  tragedy  that 
had  been  acted  so  close  to  her,  she  rose 
up,  wrapped  herself  in  a  large  cloak, 
and,  taking  with  her  the  two  little  sons 
of  Gianpaolo  and  her  daughter-in-law, 
Zenobia  Sforza,  she  quitted  her  son's 
house  (she  loved  Grifonetto  so  dearly 
that  she  had  always  lived  with  him, 
having  been  widowed  before  she  was 
twenty)  and  took  refuge  in  her  own 
dwelling  on  the  Colle  Landone,  She 
had  nothing  with  her  but  the  cloak  she 
58 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

wore,  and  when  she  learned  in  detail 
the  events  of  the  night  she  solemnly 
vowed  she  would  never  again  cross  her 
son's  threshold.  Grifonetto  had  quickly 
repented  his  crime.  His  eyes  had  opened 
to  the  wickedness  into  which  his  mad 
jealousy  had  betrayed  him.  As  soon 
as  he  learned  his  mother's  departure 
he  followed  her,  but  he  was  refused 
admittance  ;  he,  however,  forced  his 
way  into  her  presence.  She  stayed 
his  approach  with  outstretched  hands, 
and  delivered  her  solemn  curse  on  his 
guilty  head  as  the  murderer  of  his  nearest 
kindred.  The  young  fellow  fled  horror- 
stricken  from  her  presence,  but  soon 
returned ;  he  could  not  find  peace,  he 
said,  till  his  beloved,  beautiful  mother 
forgave  him,  and  removed  the  curse 
she  had  laid  on  him. 

Atalanta  had,  however,  taken  her 
precautions,  and  though  the  unhappy 
Grifonetto  went  again  and  again  from 
his  Palazzo  to  that  on  the  Colle  Landone, 
Atalanta  refused  to  see  or  listen  to  him. 
59 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

With  the  exception  of  his  compUcity 
in  this  fearful  tragedy,  Grifonetto  seems 
to  have  had  more  human  feehng  than 
some  of  his  cousins  of  the  elder  branch. 
His  suffering  under  his  mother's  curse, 
and  his  penitence  for  his  crime,  had 
completely  unnerved  him.  When  Gian- 
paolo,  who  by  the  death  of  his 
uncle  Guido  was  now  the  head  of  the 
Baglioni,  returned  to  Perugia  with  the 
troops  he  and  his  brothers  had  rallied 
round  them,  they  were  met  at  the  city 
gate  by  an  excited  crowd  of  citizens ; 
for  though  some  of  the  Perugians  still 
sided  with  their  favourite  Grifonetto, 
the  larger  portion  abhorred  his  foul 
treason,  and  longed  to  see  it  avenged. 
Gianpaolo,  seeing  the  concourse  and 
hearing  the  cries  of  welcome,  asked 
graciously  that  the  ladies  present  in 
the  crowd  would  be  good  enough  to 
pray  for  his  success.  They  did  so,  and 
sent  out,  besides,  wine  to  refresh  him 
and  his  soldiers  after  their  journey, 
before  they  began  to  revenge  them- 
60 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

selves  on  their  enemies.  Grifonetto  had 
come  towards  the  gate  with  intent  to 
guard  it,  gnashing  his  teeth  and  weep- 
ing, for  he  had  made  another  attempt 
to  see  his  mother.  He  presently  met 
Gianpaolo  on  the  Piazza,  where  some 
of  the  conspirators  had  already  been 
slain, — Carlo  Baglione  and  Jeronimo  della 
Penna  had  a  narrow  escape  by  climbing 
the  city  wall. 

Gianpaolo  gazed  with  pitying  con- 
tempt at  his  young  cousin,  who,  still 
overwhelmed  with  remorse  for  his  share 
in  the  unnatural  crime,  and  heart-broken 
by  his  mother's  curse,  was  taken  aback 
at  thus  suddenly  meeting  his  enemy 
within  the  city. 

Gianpaolo  rode  up,  and,  pointing  his 
sword  at  Grifonetto's  throat,  cried  out ; 
''  Farewell,  thou  traitor  Grifonetto  ;  thou 
art  " —  Then  he  added,  **  Go,  in  God's 
name,  for  I  will  not  kill  you;  I  will 
not  dip  my  hands  in  your  blood,  as 
you  have  dipped  yours  in  the  blood  of 
your  kindred." 

6i 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

He  turned  away,  making  a  sign  to 
his  guards,  they  fell  on  the  stricken 
Grifonetto,  and  wounded  him  so  that 
his  ''  graceful  limbs "  could  no  longer 
support  him ;  he  fell  in  a  pool  of  blood 
on  the  ground.  The  terrible  news  was 
at  once  carried  to  his  mother  x\talanta, 
and  his  sorrowful  wife  Zenobia ;  they 
hurried  down  to  the  Piazza,  and  found 
their  dearly  loved  Grifonetto  not  yet 
dead,  but  bleeding  from  every  wound. 
His  mother  fell  on  her  knees  beside  him ; 
she  assured  him  of  her  forgiveness,  and 
gave  him  her  blessing  in  place  of  the 
curse  she  had  laid  on  him.  She  implored 
him  to  pardon  his  murderers,  and  to 
give  her  a  sign  that  he  did  so.  At  this 
the  dying  youth  clasped  the  white  hand 
of  his  young  mother,  whom  he  so  dearly 
loved,  and,  pressing  it,  he  expired.  '*  No 
words,"  adds  the  chronicler,  "  can  paint 
the  grief  of  the  wife  who  had  so  dearly 
loved  him,  or  of  the  mother  who  had 
remained  a  widow  because  of  her  great 
love  for  this  adored  son.  At  last  they 
62 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

rose,  stained  with  the  blood  that  streamed 
from  him,  and  ordered  his  body  to  be 
carried  to  the  hospital." 

By  this  time  Gianpaolo  and  his  troops 
had  returned  to  the  Piazza,  bent  on 
taking  a  complete  revenge  on  the  con- 
spirators and  all  enemies  of  the  Baglione 
family  in  Perugia.  A  fierce  battle  was 
fought  on  the  Piazza,  and  in  the  cathedral 
itself,  for  Gianpaolo  had  caused  a  large 
fire  to  be  kindled  before  the  door,  so 
as  to  gain  access  to  the  interior  ;  even 
those  who  took  refuge  at  the  high 
altar  were  slain  there.  More  than  a 
hundred  persons  were  murdered  by 
Gianpaolo's  order ;  the  dead  bodies  lay 
where  they  fell,  till  the  cathedral  was 
bloodstained  from  one  end  to  the  other. 

Then  the  Magnifico  Gianpaolo,  being 
now  the  head  of  the  family,  took  posses- 
sion of  Grifonetto's  palace  and  of  all 
the  Baglione  dwellings  which,  as  has 
been  said,  were  near  the  Porta  Marzia. 
He  gave  command  that  all  should  be 
solemnly  hung  with  black,  as  a  token 
63 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

of  mourning  for  the  victims  of  ''  el  gran 
tradimento/' — a  term  which  Matarazzo 
constantly  repeats.  Gianpaolo  also  gave 
command  that  the  cathedral  of  San 
Lorenzo  should  be  washed  with  wine 
from  one  end  to  the  other,  and  then 
re-consecrated,  to  purge  it  from  the 
blood  shed  there  during  his  vengeance 
on  the  slayers  of  his  kindred,  and  on 
all  who  were  in  any  way  unfriendly 
to  the  house  of  Baglione. 

Even  Matarazzo,  the  enthusiastic 
admirer  of  Gian, — or,  as  he  frequently 
calls  him,  Giovanpaolo, — bursts  into 
lamentation  over  the  continued  excesses 
committed  in  Perugia  till  the  death  of  his 
hero.  The  chronicler  tells  us  that  from 
the  time  the  Oddi  were  banished  there 
was  no  rule  in  the  city,  except  that  of 
might  against  right ;  every  man  who  was 
powerful  enough  took  the  law  in  his  own 
hands :  rapine,  murder,  plunder,  reigned 
unchecked.  When  the  Popes,  aware  of 
the  persistent  excesses,  sent  now  and 
again  a  legate  to  control  and  modify 
64 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

disorder,  and  to  restore  some  amount  of 
security  to  the  dismayed  and  outraged 
citizens,  the  envoys  rarely  remained  long 
enough  to  interfere,  even  if  they  ven- 
tured within  the  gates  of  Perugia,  lest 
they  should  give  offence  to  the  Baglioni, 
and  be  either  stabbed  or  at  best  flung 
out  of  window. 

At  last  Gianpaolo  submitted  himself 
to  the  power  of  the  Pope,  and  though 
the  Perugians  detested  Papal  govern- 
ment, they  had  suffered  so  severely 
under  the  Baglioni  tyranny  that  they 
hailed  the  prospect  of  change,  especially 
as  the  terms  granted  them  promised 
moderation. 

Leo  the  Tenth,  however,  had  little 
faith  in  Gianpaolo  Baglione  ;  he  there- 
fore lured  him  to  Rome  by  sending  him 
a  safe-conduct.  On  his  arrival  the  Pope 
caused  him  to  be  imprisoned  in  the  castle 
of  San  Angelo ;  where  he  was  soon  after 
beheaded. 

Gianpaolo' s    descendants    went    from 
bad  to  worse.     They  were  powerful  in 
E  65 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

other  states  besides  Perugia;  captains 
of  Condottieri  in  Venice,  in  Florence, 
also  in  the  States  of  the  Church.  One  of 
them,  Malatesta  Baglione,  proved  him- 
self a  most  infamous  traitor ;  he  sold  him- 
self to  Pope  Clement  vii.,  and,  for  his 
dastardly  treason  to  Florence,  was  held 
up  to  public  execration.  The  last  male 
member  of  this  terrible  family  died  in 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

With  the  accession  to  the  popedom 
of  Paul  the  Third  came  the  deathblow 
to  the  freedom  of  Perugia.  He  broke 
all  the  treaties  as  to  municipal  rights 
and  privileges,  etc.,  granted  by  his 
predecessors,  and  built  a  huge  citadel 
to  overawe  the  town,  actually  removing 
one  of  the  Etruscan  gates,  the  Porta 
Marzia  (now  restored  to  its  original 
site),  to  make  room  for  his  tyrannical 
construction.  The  military  despotism 
of  Pope  Paul  must  have  been  heart- 
breaking to  a  free,  proud  people  like  the 
Perugians. 

66 


FONTE  DI  PERUGIA 

There  seems  to  have  been  less  blood- 
shed under  the  Papal  tyranny,  but  this 
little  incident  at  its  beginning,  taken 
from  an  old  record  in  the  Public  Library, 
was  a  savage  sort  of  portent : 

''  While  the  Duke  Pietro  Aloigi  stayed 
with  his  troops  in  Perugia,  to  order  the 
new  government,  Agostino  de*  Pistoia 
and  Antonio  Romano,  two  of  his  soldiers, 
asked  the  Duke's  permission  to  fight  out 
their  quarrel  in  his  presence  on  the 
Piazza  of  Perugia.  The  Duke  gave 
consent,  and  ordered  that  they  should 
fight  before  the  chapel  of  the  Cambio. 
There,  surrounded  by  the  populace,  the 
Duke  being  at  one  of  the  windows  of  the 
palace,  they  fought  in  their  shirts  with 
swords  and  daggers. 

''  Both  men  showed  much  courage  and 
daring,  but  at  last  Agostino,  of  Pistoia, 
who  was  both  handsome  and  tall  of 
stature,  fell  on  the  ground  dead. 

*'  Victory  was  at  once  cried  for  Antonio 
Romano,  who,  by  his  father's  side,  was 
of   Perugia ;  but    from    the    many    and 
67 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

grievous  wounds  the  Pistonian  had  given 
him,  Antonio  was  considered  by  many 
as  good  as  dead,  and  was  carried  home 
by  his  friends.  However,  by  the  great 
care  taken  of  him,  he  after  a  while 
recovered   his   strength/' 


68 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  COLLEGIO  DEL  CAMBIO  AND  THE 
PINACOTECA 


PERUGINO. 


CORSO  was  on  the  left 
near  the  Fonte  grand 
range  of  ancient  build- 
ings, in  which  is  the 
entrance  to  the  chapel 
of  the  Cambio ;  beside 
this  is  the  Sala,  adorned 
with  Perugino's  famous  frescoes.  A  little 
farther  on  is  the  richly-sculptured  door- 
way of  the  Palazzo  Pubblico,  and  within 
this  is  the  Pinacoteca,  containing  a  very 
interesting  collection  of  art  treasures. 
Here  are  marvellous  frescoes  by  Bonfigli ; 
and  pictures  by  him  and  by  Piero  della 
Francesca,  Fiorenzo  di  Lorenzo,  and 
other  famous  old  painters. 
69 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

It  would  be  difficult  to  say  too  much 
in  praise  of  the  Sala  del  Cambio :  the 
harmony  preserved  throughout  it,  in  the 
rich  and  artistic  decoration  of  its  walls 
and  ceiling,  is  most  soothing,  and  adds 
greatly  to  the  enjoyment  one  feels  in  the 
beautiful  little  place.  The  lower  part  of 
the  walls  is  wainscotted  with  dark  wood, 
inlaid  with  tarsiatura  by  Domenico  del 
Tasso  ;  the  doors  have  the  date  1483. 
Near  the  entrance  is  the  raised  throne 
for  the  judge;  below  this  are  desks  and 
seats  for  the  money-changers,  and  these 
are  exquisitely  carved.  One  account 
says  that  the  intarsia  designs  were 
furnished  by  Raffaelle ;  another  tells 
us  that  Domenico  del  Tasso  was  both 
designer  and  executor  of  this  beautiful 
work.  In  the  record  of  the  agreement 
between  the  authorities  at  Perugia  and 
Pietro  Vannucci  the  painter,  he  writes, 
''  My  intention  in  the  frescoes  which 
cover  the  upper  part  of  the  walls  is 
to  recommend  the  merchants  and  magis- 
trates therein  assembled  never  to  forsake 
70 


-^xvWan^^^? 


D 


OORWAY    OF 

PALAZZO    PUBBLICO 


To  face  page  70.] 


THE  COLLEGIO  DEL  CAMBIO 

the  path  of  duty,  but  to  remain  faithful 
to  the  dictates  of  wisdom,  of  natural 
reason,  and  of  religion/' 

Faith  and  Love  are  emphasised  by 
two  large  frescoes  facing  the  entrance, 
the  Transfiguration  and  the  Adoration  of 
the.  Magi;  Hope  of  an  eternal  future, 
by  the  prophets  and  sibyls  on  the  wall 
to  the  right. 

On  the  left  wall  the  frescoes  depict 
moral  qualities, — Justice  and  Prudence, 
illustrated  below  by  the  figures  of  Fabius 
Maximus,  Socrates,  Numa,  Camillus, 
Pittacus,  and  Trajan. 

On  a  lower  level  still  is  a  portrait  in 
oil  of  Perugino,  painted  by  himself ;  while 
the  remaining  half  of  the  upper  wall 
has  figures  representing  Courage  and 
Temperance.  Below  them  are  Licinius 
Leonidas  and  Horatius  Codes;  Scipio 
Africanus,   Pericles,   and  Cincinnatus. 

There  is  not  any  attempt  at  grouping 

in    these    frescoes :     the    figures    stand 

severe  and  stately,  as  if  they  were  on 

the   look-out    to    rebuke    any    cheating 

71 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

or  covetous  practices  going  on  in  the 
Hall  below.  It  is  remarkable  that 
the  painter  should  have  been  accused 
of  greed  in  the  pursuit  of  his  calling, 
when  he  considered  it  necessary  to  call 
up  on  the  walls  of  the  Sala  so  many 
witnesses  to  protest  against  the  love 
of  money  in  others.  The  ceiling  is 
divided  into  bays,  on  which  are  the 
planets.  In  the  centre  is  the  sun,  repre- 
sented by  Apollo  in  his  chariot ;  the 
spaces  between  are  filled  with  ornament 
and  figures,  some  of  which  are  attributed 
to  Raffaelle. 

On  a  bright  morning,  when  the  sun 
is  pouring  light  and  warmth  into  the 
little  Sala,  the  rich  tone  of  these  frescoes 
is  marvellous,  and,  so  far  as  one  can 
see,  they  have  not  greatly  suffered  by 
restoration. 

In  the  adjoining  Cappella  del  Cam  bio 
are  some  sibyls  and  children,  said  to  be 
Raffaelle' s,  but  the  work  in  these  has 
evidently  been  much  retouched. 

Perugino  is  at  his  best  in  the  frescoes 
72 


THE  COLLEGIO  DEL  CAMBIO 

of  the  Sala;  they  form  a  striking  con- 
trast to  the  monotony  of  style  which,  in 
spite  of  their  individual  beauty,  wearies 
one  in  his  Perugian  oil  pictures.  The 
gallery  devoted  to  his  work  upstairs 
in  the  Pinacoteca  is,  on  the  whole, 
disappointing. 

The  pictures  are  calm  and  sweet  and 
refined,  but  one  longs  for  variety  of 
feeling  ;  a  few,  however,  show  marked 
superiority  over  the  rest.  It  is  very 
curious  to  remember  that  these  peaceful 
saintly  pictures  were  painted  when  daily 
brawls  were  taking  place  in  the  city, 
even  while  her  chief  Piazza  streamed 
with  the  blood  of  nobles  and  Raspanti. 

The  most  interesting  Umbrian  pictures 
are  those,  only  a  few,  by  a  rare  and 
early  painter,  Fiorenzo  di  Lorenzo,  who 
with  Piero  della  Francesca,  from  Borgo 
del  Sepolcro,  and  Benedetto  Bonfigli,  had 
established  a  school  of  art  in  Perugia. 
The  lovely  head  of  a  Madonna  by  this 
rarely  found  painter,  Fiorenzo  di  Lorenzo, 
is  over  a  doorway  in  the  Palazzo  Pub- 
73 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

blico,  and  upstairs  in  one  of  the  galleries 
are  two  very  remarkable  pictures,  the 
Adoration  of  the  Magi  is  especially 
beautiful. 

The  three  kings  stand  on  the  left, — 
one  of  them  is  said  to  be  a  portrait, 
when  young,  of  Perugino ;  on  the  ground, 
in  the  centre,  lies  the  Holy  Child;  the 
Blessed  Virgin  and  St.  Joseph  kneel  on 
either  side  of  Him.  Opposite  the  magi 
are  the  ox,  and  a  very  wise -looking 
ass  ;  while  a  large  group  of  angels  fills 
up  the  background,  and  forms  the  most 
interesting  part  of  the  picture ;  the 
angels  are  so  altogether  original  and 
graceful. 

The  painting  of  detail  is  marvellously 
finished,  though  the  similarity  of  faces 
and  of  costume  make  it  probable  that 
the  same  model  was  used  for  most  of 
the  angels.  They  and  smaller  figures, 
the  shepherds  and  others,  seen  at  the 
openings  which  reveal  landscape  on 
either  side  of  the  stable,  are  singularly 
full  of  grace  and  charm.  There  is 
74 


THE  COLLEGIO  DEL  CAMBIO 

admirable  colour  in  all  the  pictures  by 
this  painter. 

We  find  paintings  by  Niccolo  Alunno 
of  Foligno,  another  contemporary,  pic- 
tures too  by  some  old  Sienese  masters ; 
a  room  is  filled  with  small  easel  pictures 
by  Fra  Angelico.  The  student  of  early 
Italian  art  will  find  in  these  galleries 
abundant  material  of  a  most  interest- 
ing kind.  The  pictures  were  formerly 
scattered  in  the  various  churches  of 
Perugia,  for  which  they  had  been 
painted ;  the  government  has  now 
collected  and  placed  them  in  the  Pina- 
coteca. 

One  of  the  rooms  leads  on  to  a  terrace. 
Here  is  a  beautiful  view  over  the  sur- 
rounding country.  The  old  cicerone 
took  much  interest  in  showing  us  where 
Siena  and  Orvieto  and  Rome  lay,  all 
three  hidden  among  ranges  of  blue  hills. 


IS 


CHAPTER  V 

SPELLO 

THE  pleasantest  and  shortest  road  to 
the  railway  is  by  Porta  Eburnea. 
I  started  one  day  from  this  gate  with  a 
friend,  by  a  steep  path  which  leaves  the 
road  just  outside  the  Porta,  and  curves 
along  the  side  of  the  hill  below  the  old 
wall.  The  bank,  this  fine  morning,  was 
gay  with  butterflies  and  wild  flowers, 
and  wreathed  with  a  luxuriant  growth 
of  wild  gourd,  full  of  pale  blossoms 
and  small  furry  fruit;  all  was  so  wild, 
it  seemed  impossible  we  had  only  just 
left  a  busy  city  behind  us. 

At    the    turn   of  the  path   we    came 
into  a  delightful  lane,  between  bramble- 
covered  banks  ;  on  one  side  was  the  dry 
bed  of  a  little  rill,  and  overhead  branches 
76 


SPELLO 

of  quaint  trees  met  each  other.  From 
the  Italian  custom  of  constantly  stripping 
the  leaves  to  provide  fodder,  the  foliage 
was  scanty,  yet  we  went  down  the  steep 
path  in  cool  and  checkered  shadow ; 
lizards,  darting  across  the  way  before  us, 
gleamed  as  they  passed  in  and  out  of 
the  light. 

This  practice  of  stripping  leaves  from 
the  trees  for  fodder,  gives  a  quaint 
appearance  to  many  of  them  ;  in  this 
lane  the  gnarled  and  twisted  branches 
looked  grotesque.  A  man  high  up  in 
one  of  the  trees  sang  as  gaily  as  a  bird, 
while  he  filled  with  leaves  a  sack  fastened 
to  one  of  the  branches. 

Now  and  again  the  rich  transparent 
purple  of  the  shadows  was  traversed 
by  a  bar  of  golden  light ;  this  sometimes 
came  in  irregular  flecks  from  spaces 
between  the  twisted  trunks  and  crossing 
branches. 

A  woman  coming  up  from  the  station, 
with  a  heavy  basket  on  her  head,  said, 
''  Buon  Giorno,"  and  smiled  pleasantly 

n 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 


as  she  passed;  then  a  countryman,  a 
fine,  handsome  fellow  with  glowing 
black  eyes,  wished  us  a  good  journey. 
He  was  going  at  such  a  pace  that  he 
must  have  been  bound  for  the  station  ; 
usually  the  easy,  leisure- 
ful  movements  of  its 
people  seem  to  me  one 
of  the  charms  of  Italy, 
so  entirely  in  harmony 
with  the  burning,  palpi- 
tating blue  of  its  skies 
and  the  careless  luxuri- 
ance of  its  vegetation. 

Near  the  end  of  the 
descent  is  a  washing 
place,  and  here  a  woman  on  her  knees 
was  hard  at  work,  scrubbing  and  soap- 
ing linen.  Looking  back  up  the  lane  we 
saw  the  grey  town  peeping  at  us  through 
the  trees, — the  tower  of  a  house  on  the 
Piazza  a  prominent  feature  in  the  view. 

At  the  foot  of  the  lane  we  crossed 
the  dusty  highroad,  and  again  followed 
the    short   way,    here    very   steep    and 
78 


THE    WAY    TO    THE 
STATION,  PERUGIA. 


^^ 

^H^:                                                                   ,^^^^^1 

•♦„fc-3  *^ 

1                              '  :j'    -Mm 

i 

\ 

T7ONTANA    BORC 
r       outsiae    PERUGl 

JHESE 
A 

Tofacepase78.'\ 


SPELLO 

rugged.  At  the  end  we  came  out  at  a 
cross-road  where  the  Fontana  Borghese, 
at  one  angle,  made  a  striking  feature  ; 
partly  shadowed  by  tall  cypresses,  it 
glowed  red  in  the  sunshine.  The  date 
is  1615  ;  its  basin  is  green  with  age, 
and  from  the  constant  drip,  drip  of 
the  water.  To-day  the  fountain  was 
surrounded  with  wine  carts,  each  drawn 
by  a  pair  of  huge  white  oxen.  It  is 
fortunate  these  beautiful  creatures  are 
so  gentle,  for  their  wide-spreading, 
sharply  pointed  horns  make  them  for- 
midable ;  indeed,  when  the  wine  season 
began,  during  our  stay  in  Perugia,  we 
had  sometimes  to  take  refuge  in  a  shop 
while  they  passed,  for  the  horns  of  a 
pair  of  these  splendid  beasts  stretched 
from  one  side  of  a  narrow  street  to  the 
other.  Inside  a  little  wine-shop  opposite 
the  Fontana  Borghese  we  heard  shouts 
of  ''  Died;'  ''  otto,^'  ''  sette,'^  etc.,  from 
the  players  at  morra. 

One  of  the  charms  of  Perugia  is  the 
genial  courtesy  of  the  people.     My  com- 
79 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

panion  on  this  excursion  had  stayed 
several  times  in  the  town,  and  to-day 
when  she  appeared  at  the  station  all 
the  officials  were  at  her  service,  full  of 
little  friendly  attentions,  especially  one 
giant-like  porter  called  ''  Lungo/' 

The  railway  takes  its  course  to  Foligno 
through  the  valley  of  the  Tiber,  with 
mountain  views  on  each  side.  Perugia 
stands  grandly  on  the  top  of  her  hills, 
while  on  one  side  rises  like  an  advanced 
guard  the  spire  of  San  Pietro,  and  on 
a  spur  to  the  west  Santa  Giuliana ; 
but  the  city  is  not  so  picturesque  from 
this  point,  because  one  sees  the  modern 
buildings  on  the  great  Piazza  Vittor 
Emanuele.  On  the  left  we  saw  the 
outside  of  the  famous  Etruscan  tomb 
of  the  Volumnii,  and  soon  after  passed 
the  pretty  village  of  Ponte  San  Giovanni, 
getting  a  glimpse  of  the  Tiber. 

From   the   railway   one   has   a   good 

view  of  Assisi,  clinging  to   the   side   of 

Monte  Subasio,  and  the  station  is  close 

to   the    church    of    Santa   Maria   degli 

80 


spello 

Angeli ;  but  we  were  bound  for  FolignO, 
and  did  not  stop  here  to-day.  As  the 
railway  circles  round  it  we  noted  the 
splendid  mass  made  by  Subasio  in  this 
chain  of  mountains. 

We  passed  by  Spello,  perched  on  a 
spur  of  the  great  hill,  but  it  was  dis- 
appointing to  find  that,  after  this,  the 
valley  broadened  out  into  a  plain,  so  that 
Foligno  stands  tamely  on  level  ground. 
It  does  not  seem  to  be  much  visited, 
though  it  is  a  quaint  little  town,  and 
has,  we  heard,  a  tolerable  inn. 

On  our  arrival  we  were  attacked  by 
vociferous  drivers  and  guides,  so  we 
took  one  of  the  dirty  Httle  carriages 
and  drove  up  an  avenue  past  the  huge 
statue  of  Niccolo  Alunno,  a  native  of 
FoUgno,  to  the  Piazza.  We  were  hardly 
out  of  our  vehicle  when  up  rushed  a 
wretched-looking  man,  his  bare  chest 
showing  red  and  hairy  through  the  open- 
ing of  his  dirty  shirt,  while  a  huge  piece 
of  green  oilskin  covered  his  shoulders. 
"  Ecco,  Ecco,  it  is  not  possible  the 
F  8i 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Signorine  can  find  their  way/'  he 
shouted.  "  I  only  can  show  them 
Fohgno." 

As  he  continued  to  persecute  us, 
and  our  time  was  short,  we  submitted, 
and  followed  his  guidance. 

The  outside  of  the  cathedral  fronting 
the  Piazza  is  curious.  Two  monsters, 
lions  in  red  granite,  guard  the  portal; 
one  of  these  creatures  has  an  eagle  in 
its  mouth.  Above  the  doorway  is  a 
curious  sort  of  arcade ;  the  door-heading 
itself  has  been  recently  restored  with 
the  emblems  of  the  evangelists.  There 
is  nothing  to  see  inside  this  church. 
Opposite  it  is  a  quaint  old  building, 
and  on  the  right  is  the  Tribunale  del 
Commune. 

We  had  to  wait  some  time  here  while 
the  keys  were  fetched ;  we  then  followed 
the  custode  up  an  old  stone  staircase 
to  an  ante-chapel  to  see  the  frescoes 
of  Ottaviano  Nelli.  We  went  on  into 
the  little  chapel ;  here  the  frescoes  have 
been  restored.  They  represent  the  life 
82 


SPELLO 

of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  from  her  birth 
to  her  Assumption,  and  are  full  of 
interest. 

Coming  out,  we  followed  our  ragged, 
repulsive-looking  guide  down  a  street 
close  by,  and  saw  the  Palazzo  Deli, 
a  handsome  building,  designed,  it  is 
said,  by  Baccio  d'Agnolo.  There  are 
three  other  churches  ;  in  one  of  them, 
San  Niccolo,  is  a  Nativity  by  Alunno ; 
the  figure  of  San  Joseph  is  very  fine. 
One  of  the  statues  in  front  of  the 
choir,  a  female  saint,  has  her  feet  bound 
with  brass ;  the  sacristan  told  us  that 
this  had  been  done  to  preserve  them 
from  the  devotion  of  worshippers  who 
had  already  kissed  away  the  ends  of 
the  saint's  toes.  The  frescoes  in  Santa 
Maria  infra  Portas,  a  very  old  church, 
are  mostly  ancient,  but  completely  faded. 
Raphael's  beautiful  Madonna  di  Foligno, 
now  in  the  Vatican,  was  once  in  the 
church  of  Santa  Anna  in  this  town. 

We  greatly  regretted  that  we  could 
not  drive  on  to  Montefalco,  a  pictur- 
83 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

esquely  placed  little  town,  with  many 
good  pictures  by  Umbrian  painters ; 
there  are  several  also  said  to  be  by 
Benozzo  Gozzoli. 

We  took  another  little  carriage,  stand- 
ing in  a  side  street,  and  had  a  very 
pleasant  drive  back  to  Spello,  between 
vineyards  and  olive  groves,  eating  our 
luncheon  on  the  way.  Spello  looked 
very  attractive  as  we  approached  it,  its 
white  houses  gleaming  in  the  sunlight 
against  the  green  hill  on  the  side  of 
which  it  stands. 

We  entered  the  town  under  a  quaint 
and  ancient  gateway,  the  Porta  Veneris 
of  Hispellum,  for  Spello  is  an  old  Roman 
town,  and  the  ancient  walls  and  some 
of  the  gates  have  been  preserved.  This 
gate  has  three  figures  outside  it,  a  pictur- 
esque fountain  stands  near,  and  to-day 
beside  it  sat  a  group  of  handsome 
peasants,  eating  and  drinking  in  the 
sunshine. 

We  thought  the  steep  old  street  was 
full    of  pictures   for   a  sketcher  as  we 
84 


PORTA  VENERIS,    SPELLO. 


SPELLO 

drove  up  to  the  Vrnzzs,,  on  which  is  the 
Cathedral  Santa  Maria  Maggiore.   Enter- 
ing, we  were  at  once  struck  with  the  re- 
markable early  fifteenth-century  canopy, 
the  work  of  an  Umbrian  sculptor,  Rocca 
di  Vicenza ;  it  is  made  of  the  stone  of 
the  country  called  Cacciolfo,  and  has  a 
polished  surface.    The  four  pillars  are  in 
pairs ;  in  front  of  two  of  them  the  artist 
has  introduced  portraits  of  himself  and 
his  wife ;  beyond,  right  and  left,  are  Ma- 
donnas by  Perugino.    The  sacristan  told 
us  that  there  is   a   still  finer  specimen 
of  the  sculptor  Rocca  di  Vicenza' s  work 
at  Trevi.      On  the  opposite  side  of  the 
church  is  the   Capella  del  Sacramento, 
the  work  of  Pinturicchio  ;  three  of  the 
walls  and  the  ceiling  here  are  covered 
with    beautiful    frescoes    in    deUghtful 
harmony   of    colour.      On    one    side    is 
the  Annunciation,  with  the   name   and 
portrait   of   the   painter,    on   the   other 
walls  are  the  Adoration   and  the  Dis- 
puta ;  this    last    is    a    very    interesting 
picture,    and    is    also    signed.     On    the 
87 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

ceiling  are  painted  the  sibyls,  and  the 
spaces  between  are  filled  with  rich, 
harmonious  colour. 

We  could  gladly  have  stayed  much 
longer  in  this  chapel,  for  the  frescoes 
seemed  to   us  finer   specimens   of  Pin- 


PINTURICCHIO,    SPELLO. 


turicchio's  work  than  anything  we  had 
seen  at  Perugia.  In  the  sacristy  is 
a  beautiful  Madonna  by  this  painter. 
The  mortuary  chapel  has  a  quaint  pair 
of  doors  in  perforated  wood-work ;  near 
the  west  door  we  saw  a  curious  square 


SPELLO 

bas-relief  of  ancient  work,  on  two  sides 
of  it  is  carved  an  olive-tree,  and  on 
another  side  a  man  on  horseback.  It 
looked  like  an  old  burial  urn. 

The  way  was  so  steep  for  driving, 
that  from  the  cathedral  we  walked  on 
in  search  of  the  woman  who  had  the 
keys  of  the  church  of  San  Andrea.  She, 
however,  being  busy,  handed  us  over 
to  a  young  fellow  with  a  face  as  lovely 
as  Raffaelle's,  and  with  those  wonderful 
blue  eyes,  which  have  in  them  the  glow 
of  an  Italian  sky,  not  to  be  seen  in  more 
northern  regions. 

But  at  San  Andrea,  while  we  were 
looking  at  the  Pinturicchio  behind  the 
high  altar,  a  very  courteous  and  intelli- 
gent priest  came  into  the  church.  Seeing 
us,  he  kindly  removed  the  cross  which 
obstructed  our  view  of  the  best  part  of 
the  altar  picture,  the  child  San  John  the 
Baptist,  who  sits  writing  on  his  scroll 
at  the  feet  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  This 
figure  is  supposed  to  be  Raffaelle's  work. 
St.  Francis  and  St.  Lawrence  are  on 
89 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

one  side,  St.  Andrew  and  St.  Gregory 
on  the  other;  the  embroidery  on  St. 
Lawrence's  vestments  is  wonderfully 
painted,  but  as  a  whole  this  picture  is 
not  nearly  so  good  as  the  frescoes  by 
the  same  master  in  the  cathedral. 

The  priest  pointed  out  to  us  a  graceful 
arcade  surrounding  the  front  and  ends 
of  an  altar.  This  was  discovered  some 
years  ago,  concealed  beneath  a  much 
larger  altar  which  had  been  placed  above 
the  chest  containing  the  bones  of  San 
Andrea  ;  he  told  as  that  when  the  bones 
were  sought  for,  in  order  to  remove  them, 
the  arcade  was  brought  to  light.  The 
priest  also  showed  us  a  fresco  on  the 
wall  of  the  nave,  and  graphically  related 
how  he  himself,  only  a  few  months  before, 
had  discovered  it  under  the  whitewash 
when  the  church  was  being  cleaned  for 
a  festa.  Who  knows  how  many  trea- 
sures still  lie  concealed  on  the  church 
walls  of  these  out-of-the-way  towns ; 
it  must  be  owned,  however,  that  the 
newly  found  fresco  at  Spello  is  not 
90 


SPELLO 

artistically  a  treasure,  nor  nearly  as 
interesting  as  was  the  story  of  its  dis- 
covery owing  to  its  graphic  telUng. 

From  San  Andrea  our  blue -eyed, 
gentle-spoken  young  guide  led  us  to  the 
top  of  the  town,  crowned  by  the  deserted 
Capuchin  convent.  ''  They  have  sent 
all  the  brothers  away,''  he  said  sadly; 
''  there  is  but  one  left,  and  he  may  not 
live  in  the  convent,  he  may  only  come 
up  in  the  afternoon,  and  see  the  school- 
boys play  in  the  garden/'  There  is  a 
pathetic  look  about  the  deserted,  peace- 
ful old  place.  From  the  platform  in 
front  of  it  we  enjoyed  a  splendid  view ; 
before  us  on  one  side  was  the  ever-present 
Subasio,  towering  over  all,  and  on  the 
top  of  the  hill  behind  stood  Perugia, 
looking  at  this  distance  like  some  giant 
castle. 

At  our  feet  in  the  green  valley  was 
the  amphitheatre  of  Spello ;  not  so 
perfect  as  that  at  Fiesole,  but  with 
clearly  defined  tiers  of  grassed  seats 
rising  one  above  another. 
.  91 


'   PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Porta  Augusta  is  another  interesting 
gateway.  We  came  slowly  down  the 
steep  street,  getting  constant  peeps, 
between  tall,  grey  houses,  of  the  blue 
mountains  around  us.  At  one  of  these 
breaks  in  the  wall  a  group  of  peasants 
sat,  some  spinning,  some  idhng,  beneath 
a  vine  that  stretched  on  a  trellis  from 
house  to  house,  the  light  filtering  through 
the  leaves  became  a  golden  green  before 
it  fell  on  the  merry  souls  in  the  by-street 
below.  The  men  of  Spello  look  fine, 
robust  fellows,  and  the  women  are  very 
tall  and  erect. 

One  handsome  grey-haired  dame  met 
us  as  we  came  down  the  ladder-like 
street ;  she  was  spinning  from  a  distaff 
in  her  hand.  ''  Dio,''  she  held  it  out  to 
my  companion,  ''  che  brutta  lavoro  !  " 

''  Would  that  I  could  do  it,''  was  the 
prompt  answer,  and  the  old  dame  went 
off  chuckling  with  delight. 

The  little  town  is  like  an  eyrie  high  up 
in  the  air,  the  houses  nestling  here  and 
there  for  shelter  behind  the  grey  walls. 
92 

/ 


-^os^'^^^^rT^^^g^-  i:.;,^^?^-^^^^^^ 


PORTA  AUGUSTA,    SPELLO. 


SPELLO 

We  saw  so  many  bits  by  the  way  in 
Spello,  that  it  seemed  as  if  one  might 
spend  some  pleasant  days  in  such  an 
exquisitely  placed  spot ;  but  we  could 
not  spy  out  any  possible  lodging;  and, 
after  all,  it  is  an  easy  distance  by  rail 
or  carriage  from  Assisi  or  Foligno. 

Coming  home  by  train  to  Perugia, 
we  travelled  with  a  pleasant-looking 
Italian  lady  and  her  sad-faced  husband. 
She  also  seemed  sad,  and  constantly 
put  her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes  ;  we 
fancied  she  was  affected  by  some  deep 
sorrow,  and  felt  sympathy  for  her.  The 
train  presently  stopped  at  a  station  ; 
her  distress  increased,  she  clasped  her 
hands,  and  entreated  her  husband  to 
get  out  of  the  carriage  and  see  after 
the  poor  little  ''angiolo/' 

He  gently  refused,  and  at  this  she 
sobbed,  and  almost  howled  with  anguish; 
then,  burying  her  face  in  her  handker- 
chief, she  leaned  back  and  refused  to  be 
comforted. 

At  the  next  station  we  heard  the 
95 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

sharp  yelping  of  a  little  dog,  and  then 
she  cried  out  so  loudly  for  the  ''  povera 
bestia ''  that  we  began  to  understand. 
Seeing  we  were  interested,  she  sat 
up,  pocketed  her  handkerchief,  and  ex- 
plained. ''The  officials  have  taken  my 
dog  from  me,  and  have  shut  it  up.  Dio  ! 
the  sweet  angel  would  not  hurt  a  soul,'* 
she  said,  with  a  fresh  flow  of  tears ;  ''its 
cries  break  my  heart.  It  is  a  cruelty 
beyond  belief." 

At  this  her  husband  left  the  carriage, 
looking  much  ashamed  of  himself. 
When  he  came  back  he  tried  to  pacify 
his  still  weeping  wife. 

"The  dog  is  all  right,  cara  mia,"  he 
said. 

"  Caramia,'*  however,  would  not  listen, 
and  she  actually  sobbed  and  cried  all 
the  way  to  Perugia,  where  we  left  her 
on  the  platform  with  her  pocket-hand- 
kerchief rolled  into  a  ball,  and  pressed 
close  to  her  eyes. 


96 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   HEAVENLY  CHOIR   OF 
PERUGIA 

E  had  greatly  desired  to  see  the 
fagade  of  the  Oratory  built 
in  honour  of  San  Bernardino 
of   Siena,   and   we   went    in 

POTS   AT  ' 

WINDOW.  search  of  it.  Going  past  the 
cloisters  of  the  cathedral,  we 
traversed  the  street  beyond  them :  on 
one  side  is  a  fragment  of  an  old  palace, 
on  the  other  a  quaint  series  of  ancient 
arches,  one  within  the  other,  full  of 
striking  effects  of  light  and  shade. 

A  street  descends  steeply  from  this 
portal.  We  noted  here,  and  in  many  of 
the  old  house-fronts,  carved  brackets, 
for  holding  flower-pots,  built  out  from 
the  walls,  their  grey  stone  making  a 
G  97 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

pleasant  contrast  to  the  brilliant  red 
and  orange  of  the  flowers  blossoming 
in  pots  placed  within  these  hoary  recep- 
tacles. We  sometimes  saw  metal  rings 
instead  of  stone  brackets  fastened  into 
the  wall,  so  as  to  hold  a  flower-pot. 

A  wealthy  Englishman,  staying  in 
our  hotel,  became  so  enamoured  of  the 
quaint  effect  created  by  these  stone 
brackets,  that  he  told  us  he  was  resolved 
to  transport  some  of  them  to  the  front 
wall  of  his  newly-built  London  dwelling. 
He  went  to  the  owner  of  a  house  possess- 
ing several  of  the  brackets,  and  offered 
him  a  round  sum  for  a  couple  of  them. 
The  owner  professed  himself  deHghted 
with  the  offer ;  he  would  most  willingly 
gratify  the  English  Signor's  fancy. 

'*  The  Signore  Inglese  must,  however, 
understand,"  he  said,  with  a  twinkle 
in  his  heavy-lidded  dark  eyes,  *'  that 
these  articles  are  not  individual, — they 
are  the  same  as  the  nose  on  the  face, 
fixtures.  To  possess  the  brackets,  the 
Signore  Inglese  must  purchase  the  entire 
98 


VIA   SANT     AGATA. 


HEAVENLY  CHOIR  OF  PERUGIA 

front  of  the  Palazzo,  it  is  built  all  in 
one  piece."  This  was  too  much  for  even 
an  English  collector  ;  he  was  obliged  to 
quit  Perugia  without  acquiring  even  one 
of  the  much-desired  brackets. 

As  we  went  along,  we  saw,  outside  the 
door  of  an  old  grey  house,  a  pretty, 
ragged,  fair-haired  child,  jumping  and 
dancing  on  her  little  bare  feet,  chatter- 
ing, as  it  seemed,  to  the  doorpost. 
She  was  trying  to  reach  the  knocker, 
and  was  talking  merrily  to  the  flies  on 
the  wall,  by  way  of  amusement  while 
she  waited. 

Near  the  Church  of  S.  Agata  we 
inquired  for  the  house  of  Perugino,  but 
this  Via  de'  Priori  so  winds  and  twists 
that  we  were  told  we  were  too  far  north, 
so  we  turned  at  a  sharp  angle,  and 
after  a  little  came  to  a  silent  open  space 
in  front  of  a  church,  the  Chiesa  Nuova. 

Down  an  arched  passage  close  by, 
and  up  a  side  street  on  the  right,  we 
reached  Via  Deliziosa  ;  in  this  Perugino's 
house   is    marked    by   a    tablet.     There 

lOI 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

is  nothing  special  in  the  appearance  of 

the  dweUing ;  the  hilly  street  in  which  it 
stands  is  grass-grown,  and  weirdly  silent. 

We  went  back  again  to  seek  for  San 
Bernardino,  and  descended  into  a  very 
old  quarter  of  the  city,  the  projecting 
claw  which  on  this  side  overlooks  the 
deep  valley  below  Porta  Susanna,  and 
forms  one  point  of  the  Cupa.  We  had 
to  pass  by  the  last  remaining  fortress 
of  the  nobles,  the  tall  brick  Torre  degli 
Scalzi ;  behind  this  are  remains  of  the 
Etruscan  wall. 

Close  by  we  saw  another  church, 
Madonna  di  Luce,  a  good  example  of 
Renaissance  work,  gay  with  a  scarlet  and 
gold  curtain,  in  readiness  for  to-morrow's 
festa  ;  then,  by  a  quaint  little  street  with 
flights  of  brick  steps  leading  down  into 
most  picturesque  side-turnings,  we  came 
in  sight  of  a  small  house,  its  grey  stone 
balcony  screened  from  the  sunshine  by 
a  vine-wreathed  pergola. 

In  a  few  minutes  we  reached  the  con- 
vent of  San  Francesco,  beside  which  is 

102 


HEAVENLY  CHOIR  OF  PERUGIA 

the  matchless  fagade  of   the  chapel   or 
oratory  of  San  Bernardino  of  Siena. 

The  detail  of  this  fa9ade  is  even  more 
beautiful  than  we  had  expected ;  the 
colour  of  its  rosy  marbles  and  terra- 
cotta   adds    warmth    to    the    exquisite 


FACADE    OF    SAN    BERNARDINO. 

sculptures.  These  seemed  to  us  finer, 
both  in  design  and  execution,  than  any 
Delia  Robbia  work  we  had  seen.  We 
were  glad  to  find  this  opinion  endorsed 
by  Mr.  Perkins  in  his  Tuscan  Sculptors. 
The  fagade  is  the  work  of  Agostino 
Ducci  or  Gucci,  of  Florence. 
105 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

A  circular  arch,  almost  as  wide  as  the 
fagade,  surmounts  two  square  -  headed 
entrance  doors ;  these  are  surrounded 
by  delicately  carved  ornament  in  low 
relief.  Above  the  door  is  a  frieze,  on 
which  are  represented  events  in  the 
life  of  San  Bernardino ;  over  it,  in  the 
centre  of  the  tympanum,  which  is  deeply 


ANGEL,    SAN    BERNARDINO. 


recessed  within  the  arch,  is  a  Vesica, 
formed  by  tongues  of  flame  containing 
a  figure  of  the  saint,  said  to  be  the 
best  existing  likeness  of  him.  Four 
flying  angels  placed  diagonally  on  either 
side  of  the  Vesica  seem  to  float  as 
they  offer  their  musical  sacrifice  of 
praise  and  thanksgiving.  Six  of  them 
are  playing  various  instruments ;  the  ex- 
io6 


HEADS  OF  CHERUBIM,  SAN  BERNARDINO. 


©  R  A  ^7* 

Of    THt 

UNIVERSITY 

or       . 


HEAVENLY  CHOIR  OF  PERUGIA 


pression  in  each  countenance  is  varied. 
Some  of  the  faces  are  very  lovely,  especi- 
ally the  two  praying  with  uplifted  heads  ; 
the  others  seem  to  be  chanting  hymns 
of  praise  to  the  music  of  their  respective 
instruments.  The  disposition  of  the 
angels'  robes  is  perfect ;  its  studied  grace 
reminded  us  of  Lord  Leigh- 
ton's  drapery,  the  whole 
effect  being  as  artistic  as  it 
is  original. 

Filling  up  the  rest  of  the 
tympanum,  so  as  to  make 
a  background  to  the  angels, 
there  are  the  quaintest 
heads  of  cherubs  cradled  in 
lovely  wings,  carved  in  full 
relief.  Some  of  these  heads 
are  missing,  but  those  which  remain  are 
exquisite  studies  of  baby  faces,  each  with 
its  own  special  expression,  some  roguish, 
others  sweet  and  loving;  one  of  them 
seems  to  suppress  a  sob.  There  is  infinite 
variety  among  them ;  and  all  are  so  very 
human  that  they  are  doubtless  tran- 
109 


ANGELS,    SAN 
BERNARDINO. 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 


scripts   from   fifteenth-century  Perugian 
babies. 

Winged  creatures  are  carved  in  the 
spandrels  of  the  arch  ;  and  sHghtly  below 
on  either  side  is  an  angel  within  an 
arched  niche,  over  which  is  a  pediment, 
the  mouldings  and  soffits  showing  deli- 
cately sculptured  ornament ; 
they  are  repeated  below,  and 
there  are  still  other  angels  of 
the  Heavenly  Choir,  playing 
musical  instruments ;  these 
are  on  the  broad  pilasters 
that  support  the  arch  ;  some 
are  in  pairs,  with  very 
beautiful  faces.  Thearrange- 
ANGEL  PLAYING,  meut   of   thclr   draperies   is 

SAN   BERNARDINO.  •     n  i       i    i 

especially  remarkable. 
In  all  these  figures  and  faces,  besides 
the  beauty  of  expression,  there  is  a 
marvellous  mingling  of  quaintness  and 
grace ;  they  are  so  life-like  that  one 
almost  listens  for  the  sound  of  their 
instruments,  in  meet  accompaniment 
to  their  chants,  or  to  the  hymns  of 
no 


HEAVENLY  CHOIR  OF  PERUGIA 

the  cherubs,  who  above  and  beside 
them  are  singing  a  chorus  of  praise. 
The  Oratory  is  surmounted  by  a  pedi- 
ment, and  in  its  tympanum  we  again 
find  angels  and  cherubs.  On  the 
fringe  of  the  pediment  are  the  carved 
words — 

AUGUSTA   PERUSIA   MCCCCLXI. 

The  illustrations  help  the  reader's 
appreciation  of  this  gem  of  Perugia ; 
mere  words  can  only  sketch,  without 
giving  an  adequate  idea  of  its  beauty. 

The  authorities  of  the  city  were  eager 
to  show  their  appreciation  of  the  wonder- 
ful reformation  effected  in  its  morals 
by  the  preaching  of  San  Bernardino  ; 
only  a  few  years  after  his  death,  the 
building  of  this  beautiful  memorial  was 
begun,  and  seems  to  have  been  com- 
pleted about   1462. 

Bernardino's  father  was  governor  of 

Massa;    in   the   year   1380,  when  Saint 

Catherine    died    in    Siena,     the     future 

preacher  was  born  in   the  little   town. 

Ill 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Early  left  an  orphan,  he  was  tenderly 
reared  by  three  aunts,  all  excellent 
women.  He,  unlike  his  great  prototype, 
seems  not  to  have  shared  the  fashionable 
vices  of  other  youths  of  the  period;  he 
was  from  an  early  age  bent  on  following, 
so  far  as  he  could,  the  example  left  him 
two  hundred  years  earlier  by  Saint 
Francis  of  Assisi. 

He  spent  some  time  in  that  convent 
of  Fiesole  which  educated  Fra  Angelico 
and  others,  ardent  to  revive  in  their 
generation  the  work  of  St.  Francis, 
which  had  suffered  eclipse.  Various 
reasons  have  been  given  for  this,  chief 
among  them  being  the  pagan  tendency 
of  the  Renaissance  teaching,  and  also 
the  frequent  visitations  of  plague,  which 
seem  almost  to  have  emptied  the  con- 
vents, sweeping  off  the  monks  and  nuns 
who  gave  up  their  lives  to  tend  the  sick 
in  hospitals.  In  most  of  the  Itahan 
states  and  cities  the  descendants  of 
devout  Christians  had  become  fierce 
and  brutal,  as  unrestrained  in  appetite 

112 


HEAVENLY  CHOIR  OF  PERUGIA 

as  they  were  murderous  and  lawless  in 
deeds.  Some  of  these  have  already  been 
narrated.  Princes  and  nobles  strove 
to  surpass  the  citizens  in  evil-doing 
by  the  hideous  tragedies  they  enacted. 
This  had  been  especially  the  case  for 
many  years  in  Perugia,  whose  inhabit- 
ants had  come  to  be  designated  by  the 
epithet  '*  ferocious '' :  they  were  so  given 
up  to  every  sort  of  crime. 

Bernardino  was  deeply  stirred  by  the 
evil  report  that  reached  him  from  all 
parts  of  the  country  ;  he  had  already 
been  received  into  the  Minor  Conventual 
Order  of  San  Francis,  and  had  signalised 
his  courage  by  nursing  and  ministering 
to  the  plague-stricken  inmates  of  the 
hospital  in  Siena.  This  had  injured 
his  health,  but  he  gladly  obeyed  the 
commission  given  by  his  superior,  to 
journey  through  a  certain  part  of  Italy, 
preaching  as  he  went. 

Already    the    evangelising    movement 
was  in  the  air :  in  France,  a  Spaniard, 
San  Vincent  Ferrier,  had  reaped  a  bounti- 
H  113 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

ful  harvest  of  souls.  Bernardino  deter- 
mined by  God's  help  to  evangelise  his 
country,  and  to  rescue  souls  from  evil 
by  the  winning  power  of  love.  He 
decided  to  begin  his  crusade  in  Umbria, 
in  the  powerful  city  of  Perugia,  so 
notorious  for  the  crimes  of  its  blood- 
stained nobles  and  the  frivolity  and 
vanity  of  their  women. 

Bernardino  lodged  in  a  convent  out- 
side the  city  gate,  and  went  every  morn- 
ing to  preach  in  the  Piazza  Pubblico. 
Crowds  had  flocked  to  hear  his  first 
sermon,  but  he  had  a  consciousness  that 
this  was  mere  excitement,  and  that  the 
souls  of  his  listeners  were  yet  to  be  won. 
One  day  he  told  his  congregation  that 
he  proposed  before  long  to  show  them 
the  Evil  One.  This  announcement  sent 
the  multitude  crazy  with  excitement ;  the 
throngs  of  his  listeners  were  doubled. 
But  for  some  days  after  Bernardino 
preached  only  in  an  ordinary  fashion. 

Still  the  people  believed  he  would 
keep  faith  with  them,  and  each  day 
114 


HEAVENLY  CHOIR  OF  PERUGIA 

brought  a  larger  crowd  of  expectant 
listeners.  At  last,  one  morning,  Bernar- 
dino said,  ''  I  am  now  going  to  fulfil 
my  promise  ;  I  will  show  you  not 
one  devil  only,  for  there  are  several 
here."  Then,  raising  his  voice,  ''Look 
at  one  another,  you  will  each  see  Satan 
in  your  neighbour's  face;  every  one  of 
you  does  that  Evil  One's  bidding."  He 
then  pointed  out  seriously,  and  with 
much  pathos,  the  sins  that  reigned  among 
them,  and  implored  his  hearers  to 
renounce  their  evil  practices.  The 
effect  of  his  words  was  wonder-striking. 
Families  who  had  lived  in  hatred  of 
their  fellow-citizens  for  more  than  a 
generation,  hurried  forward,  and,  clasp- 
ing the  hands  of  their  once  -  detested 
foes,  begged  forgiveness  for  wrongs 
committed;  in  more  than  one  instance, 
with  halters  round  their  necks,  they 
besought  pardon  for  the  evil  they  had 
wrought.  Bernardino  saw  that  the 
devotion  of  the  city  was  roused,  and, 
turning  to  the  women,  he  commanded 
115 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

them  to  cause  two  huge  fires  to  be 
hghted  on  the  Piazza. 

''  Set  a  pattern  to  your  men/*  he 
exclaimed  ;  '*  prove  the  reahty  of  your 
penitence ;  cast  into  the  flames  the 
gauds  by  which  Satan  tempts  you  to 
ensnare  mankind  to  their  ruin  ;  bring 
hither  your  cosmetics,  your  perfumes, 
your  false  tresses,  and  the  garlands  with 
which  you  deck  them,  your  sumptuous 
robes,  all  the  vanities  you  possess,  and 
cast  them  into  the  flames/' 

Sobbing  and  weeping,  the  women 
rushed  off  to  obey  him ;  they  soon 
returned  laden  with  the  vanities  de- 
nounced by  the  preacher,  and,  like  the 
Florentines  many  years  later,  they  cast 
their  prized  adornments  into  the  huge 
fires. 

An  old  chronicler  relates  that  one 
noble  dame  cherished  a  long  false  tress 
of  singular  beauty,  which  had  always 
commanded  admiration ;  she  felt  that 
this  would  prove  a  worthy  offering. 
Taking  it  from  its  casket,  she  was  about 
ii6 


HEAVENLY  CHOIR  OF  PERUGIA 

to  hurry  with  it  to  the  Piazza  ;  she  again 
looked  at  it. 

No,  she  could  not  make  the  sacrifice, 
the  tress  was  too  lustrous,  too  lovely ; 
more  than  all,  it  became  her  so  rarely. 
Her  heart  failed  her.  She  put  it  back  in 
the  casket,  with  a  smile  of  contempt  at 
her  own  superstition  ;  she  was  closing 
the  lid,  when  suddenly  the  beauteous 
tress  sprang  up  and  struck  her  violently 
on  the  cheekbone.  She  cried  out  with 
pain  and  terror ;  then,  forcing  the 
temptation  into  the  casket  and  closing 
the  lid,  she  fled  back  to  the  Piazza, 
and  flung  the  treasured  lock  into  the 
flames. 

For  a  while  after  this  famous  preach- 
ing, peace  and  devotion  returned  to  the 
hill-city;  then  came  sad  outbreaks  and 
dissensions,  and  Bernardino,  hearing  the 
disturbing  news,  returned  to  Perugia. 
He  exhorted  his  former  penitents  to 
seek  after  the  grace  and  the  love  which 
had  once  been  granted  them,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  year  1425  he  once  more  left 
117 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

them  in  peace  one  with  another ;  while 
he  went  to  preach  elsewhere  in  Umbria, 
and  finally  to  Gubbio,  to  Viterbo,  and 
to  Orvieto. 

Two  years  later,  when  preaching  in 
Siena,  he  held  up  the  conversion  of  the 
people  of  Perugia  as  an  example  to  be 
followed  by  the  Sienese. 


ii8 


CHAPTER  VII 
SAN  PIETRO  DE'  CASINENSI 

THE  most  remarkable  church  in 
Perugia  is  the  church,  at  the  end  of 
the  southern  point  of  the  city,  attached 
to  the  convent  of  San  Pietro ;  below  it 
is  the  gate  named  after  San  Costanzo, 
said  to  have  been  the  first  Bishop  of 
Perugia.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the 
way  from  the  convent  wall  is  a  pleasant 
public  resort,  shaded  by  trees,  called 
Passeggiata  Pubbhca.  From  this  point, 
looking  down  the  steep  road,  one  gets  a 
deUghtful  view  of  the  near  valley  and 
distant  Apennines,  framed  in  by  the  arch 
of  Porta  Costanzo.  This  view  goes  b}^ 
the  name  of  La  Veduta.  La  Veduta  and 
a  lovely  country  walk  beyond  the  gate 
are  associated  with  the  memory  of  that 
119 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

accomplished  artist  and  delightful  com- 
panion, Lord  Leighton.  He  dearly  loved 
the  old  hill-city;  in  its  delightful  quiet 
he  used  to  write  his  lecture  for  the 
Royal  Academy  students.  One  of  his 
favourite  walks  was  to  go  out  by  the 
Porta  Costanzo,  and  along  the  lovely 
lanes  beyond  it,  grown  over  with  honey- 
suckle, wild  gourd,  and  an  abundance 
of  wild  myrtle. 

The  ancient  church  of  San  Pietro,  with 
its  very  picturesque  exterior  and  cam- 
panile, serves  as  a  conspicuous  land- 
mark in  the  country  over  which  it  gazes. 
It  is  said  to  be  the  oldest  church  in 
Perugia,  and  to  be  built  on  the  site  of 
an  Etruscan  temple ;  it  was  certainly 
in  old  days  the  first  cathedral.  Built 
by  Pietro,  a  saintly  abbot  of  the  monas- 
tery in  the  tenth  century,  it  seems  to 
have  remained  for  a  long  period  almost 
untouched ;  in  the  fourteenth  century 
the  campanile  was  considered  one  of  the 
wonders  of  Italy.  A  century  later  it 
was   restored   and   decorated   with   rich 

120 


v: 


UNIVERSITY 


SAN  PIETRO  DE'  CASINENSI 

Renaissance  work,  some  of  which  is  very 
fascinating  and  interesting.  Then  came 
a  warUke  abbot,  resolved  to  convert 
the  very  saUent  tower  of  San  Pietro  into 
a  fortress  to  overawe  the  surrounding 
country  ;  and  also  to  use  it  as  a  means 
of  defence  against  the  ever  -  turbulent 
people  of  Perugia,  and  the  despots  who 
were  always  quarrelling  among  them- 
selves in  order  to  attain  supreme  power 
in  the  city. 

The  campanile  was  still  further  injured 
by  Pope  Boniface  the  Ninth,  who  also 
wished  to  construct  an  ordinary  for- 
tress on  the  site  of  the  beautiful  tower. 
Finally,  the  monks  Rebuilt  it  at  a  great 
cost.  It  was  then  struck  by  lightning, 
and  severely  damaged.  For  a  long  period 
of  time  the  injuries  caused  by  lightning 
were  so  frequent  that  it  was  feared 
the  entire  building  would  suffer  ruin ; 
then  at  last  the  idea  of  a  lightning  con- 
ductor suggested  itself.  This  saved  the 
campanile,  and  it  has  since  remained  in 
its  present  condition. 
123 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

We  went  up  the  steps  in  the  convent 
wall,  and  entered  the  old  church  of 
San  Pietro  from  the  courtyard,  by  a 
doorway  with  a  deeply  carved  heading 
in  marble.  The  interior  is  at  once  rich 
and  fascinating,  and  every  subsequent 
visit  we  made  to  it  revealed  many 
treasures. 

Some  of  the  Perugino  pictures  in 
the  sacristy  are  worth  examination,  but 
the  large  altar-piece  he  painted  for 
this  church  was  carried  away  to  Paris 
by  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  The  choir 
books  can  be  seen  here,  illuminated 
by  the  monks  of  San  Miniato,  near 
Florence.  There  are  several  pictures 
in  the  church;  in  one  of  the  aisles  is  a 
painting  by  the  early  Umbrian  master, 
Benedetto  Bonfigli.  The  ancient,  dark 
grey  columns  on  either  side  of  the 
nave  are  much  older  than  the  church, 
having  been  brought  here  from  the 
curious  old  church  at  Porta  San  Angelo, 
near  the  most  northern  gate  of  Perugia. 
We  had  already  seen  sixteen  of  these 
124 


SAN  PIETRO  DE'  CASINENSI 

columns  in  the  ancient  round  church ; 
they  are  supposed  to  date  from  a  very 
early  period.  The  altar  tomb  of  the 
Baglioni,  by  Fieado,  is  in  San  Pietro  ; 
but  the  most  remarkable  feature  of 
this  church  is  its  choir.  The  stalls  and 
their  seats  are  full  of  exquisitely  carved 
wood-work,  and  the  doors  at  the  east 
end  are  marvellous  specimens  of  intarsia 
work.  The  sacristan  shows  them  with 
great  pride,  and  then  opens  the  doors 
which  lead  on  to  the  balcony  behind. 

Below  us  we  see  a  very  lovely  picture : 
the  fertile  valle}^  and  its  surroundings 
of  richly  -  tinted  hills,  while  in  front  is 
Assisi,  chnging  to  the  side  of  rugged 
Monte  Subasio.  It  is  said  that  three 
citizens  of  Perugia  escaped  by  means 
of  this  balcony  from  the  Pope's  Swiss 
guards,  when,  less  than  fifty  years  ago, 
the  Swiss  forcibly  took  possession  of 
the  convent.  The  delicate  work  of 
the  eastern  doors  was  executed  by  Fra 
Damiano  of  Bergamo;  it  is  singularly 
beautiful;  perhaps  the  finding  of  Moses 
125 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

in    the    bulrushes    is    one    of   the    most 
curious  subjects  depicted. 

The  choir  seats  and  stalls  were  done 
by  Damiano's  brother,  Stefano  da  Ber- 
gamo. They  are  worth  a  very  careful 
examination,  for,  besides  the  intarsia 
on  the  backs  and  seats,  and  the  fine 
carving  of  the  poppy-heads,  notable 
both  for  subject  and  execution,  there 
are,  between  each  stall,  wonderful  and 
beautifully-modelled  creatures.  Now  we 
see  a  beast  like  a  crocodile,  and  next 
it  a  harpy ;  then  an  elephant,  a  dolphin, 
a  sphinx,  and  so  on ;  an  infinite  variety, 
almost  every  creature  is  different,  and 
the  carving  of  each  is  most  artistic. 

We  saw  many  treasures  in  the  church, 
before  we  went  out  into  the  cypress- 
bordered  garden  of  the  convent,  and 
again  enjoyed  the  lovely  view  from  the 
top  of  its  high  wall, — the  view  which 
wearied  Popes  and  other  great  and 
jaded  personages  have  taken  pleasure 
in  gazing  at  when  they  came  to  Perugia 
for  refreshment. 

126 


SAN  PIETRO  DE'  CASINENSI 

An  intelligent  -  looking  priest  showed 
us  the  garden.  He  said  it  was  kept  in 
order  by  the  boys  belonging  to  the 
convent.  This  formerly  sheltered  a  re- 
formatory for  lads  sentenced  to  prison 
for  their  first  offence.  It  is  now,  I 
believe,  used  as  an  Agricultural  College. 
We  had  previously  noticed  the  reforma- 
tory boys  at  work  on  the  olive  fields 
outside  the  town  gates,  and  had  admired 
the  picturesque  effect  of  their  blue 
uniforms  and  straw  hats  against  the 
silver  grey  of  the  leafy  background. 

They  had  then  come  trooping  into  the 
cloisters,  and  on  close  inspection  they 
did  not  look  so  interesting  as  we  had 
thought  them ;  some  of  them,  however, 
had  simple,  honest  faces,  and  as  they 
passed  into  the  cloister  they  smiled  and 
raised  their  hats  to  the  Era.  Most  of 
the  bigger  fellows  had  an  ugly  scowl, 
and  went  in  with  bent  heads,  without 
any  greeting. 

The  Era  told  us  the  lads  behaved 
fairly  well ;  his  trouble  was  to  find 
127 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

suitable  employment  for  them  when 
they  were  discharged  from  the  reforma- 
tory. He  said  he  greatly  approved  of 
English  laws,  especially  in  regard  to 
the  working  class.  ''  The  English  are 
so  good  to  foreigners/'  he  said. 

He  asked  us  what  would  be  the  cost 
in  London  of  a  working-man's  board 
and  lodging.  We  told  him  that  we  had 
in  England  already  too  many  boys  of 
this  sort,  for  whom  it  was  difficult  to 
find  employment ;  we,  however,  gave  him 
an  average  of  the  expenses  he  inquired 
about.  This  seemed  to  alarm  the  good 
Padre;  with  lifted  hands  he  said,  ''Such 
a  plan  would  prove  far  too  costly,  it 
would  teach  the  lads  expensive  habits  of 
living."  But  he  thanked  us  courteously 
for  our  information.  When  we  left  the 
convent  garden  we  stood  again  enjoying 
the  view  over  the  lovely  valley,  under 
a  glorious  sunset  which  glowed  on  the 
distant  hills.  It  seemed  to  us  that 
splendid  sunsets  were  another  and  special 
charm  of  Perugia. 

128 


SAN  PIETRO  DE^  CASINENSI 

We  had  meant  this  evening  to  visit 
the  Etruscan  sepulchres  of  the  Volumnii, 
discovered  only  about  sixty  years  ago, 
and  within  a  walk  of  the  San  Costanzo 
gate ;  but  San  Pietro,  even  in  this  short 
visit,  had  proved  such  an  interesting 
study,  that  we  saw  we  must  defer  our 
walk  to  the  ancient  tomb. 

We  were,  however,  told  that,  without 
much  adding  to  the  length  of  our  walk, 
we  should  considerably  increase  its  charm, 
if,  instead  of  passing  out  by  the  Porta 
Costanzo,  we  turned  aside  by  the  Porta 
San  Pietro,  or  Romana,  as  it  is  called, 
and  quitted  the  city  by  the  little  gate 
at  the  bottom  of  the  descent.  This 
is  indeed  a  delightful  walk  under  the 
old  grey  walls,  and  from  it  one  has  a 
perfect  view  over  the  lovely  country 
and  the  purple  hills. 


129 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  VOLUMNH 

FEW  days  later,  as  we  went 
along  a  lane,  with  grassy 
flower  -  pied  banks,  and 
with  purple  hills  as  back- 
ground to  the  sunlit  glory 
GIRL'S  HEAD.         ^^j^-^j^  surrouuded  us,  we 

recognised  the  delightful  landscape  so  fre- 
quently used  by  Perugino.  The  way  was 
rather  long,  but  there  was  more  in  it 
to  interest  than  to  tire  us.  We  at  last 
arrived  at  the  dark  descent  beside  the 
road,  which  forms  the  entrance  to  the 
sepulchre  of  the  Volumnii.  Many  years 
ago  there  was  supposed  to  be  a  necro- 
polis existing  in  this  hill,  and  on  excava- 
tion several  small  cells  were  discovered. 
In  more  recent  years  an  ox  was  seen 
130 


THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  VOLUMNII 

suddenly  to  stumble  on  the  hill  above, 
and  to  be  unable  to  rise.  Going  to  help 
it,  beneath  the  hole  into  which  the 
creature  had  thrust  its  foot  a  subter- 
ranean arch  was  revealed,  and  subsequent 
excavation  brought  to  light  the  wonder- 
ful, long-closed  tombs  of  the  Etruscan 
Volumnii. 

We  went  down  some  rugged  steps  to 
the  mouth  of  the  gloomy  cavern,  and 
found  ourselves  in  a  dark  passage-way, 
with  stone  benches  on  either  side.  The 
weird,  mysterious  atmosphere  of  the 
Etruscan  vault  is  indescribable.  Several 
chambers  or  cells,  in  this  underground 
house  of  the  departed,  branch  out  on 
either  side  of  the  dark  vaulted  passage, 
but  we  saw  them  in  such  semi-darkness, 
that  by  the  light  of  a  single  torch  it 
was  very  difficult  to  make  out  details. 
As  we  went  along  the  dark  vault,  our 
guide  raised  his  torch  on  high.  In  a 
moment  we  seemed  to  be  in  an  enchanted 
cavern,  where  the  silent  inhabitants  were 
guarded  by  strange  forms ;  gorgon  heads, 
131 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

owls^  and  serpents  stared  at  us  from 
roof  and  walls.  We  could  fancy  that,  as 
we  passed  by,  the  snake  heads  seemed 
to  dart  from  the  walls,  to  bristle  and 
hiss ;  and  the  grand  Medusa-faces  over- 
head looked  down  on  us  full  of  dire 
warning,  when  at  the  end  of  the  passage 
we  entered  the  tomb  of  the  Etruscan 
family.  Here  are  the  Volumnii  sitting 
in  a  group,  realistic  terra-cotta  figures 
guarding  their  urns,  just  as  they  have 
been  guarding  them  for  perhaps  two 
thousand  years. 

Aruns  Volumni,  the  father,  reclines 
on  his  sarcophagus,  which  is  guarded 
by  two  furies;  on  his  left  his  daughter 
sits  on  her  urn,  and  on  his  right  is  his 
son.  Their  faces  look  dull  and  unin- 
teresting, but  they  seem  aware  of  their 
own  importance.  The  fourth  figure  of 
the  group,  seated  next  the  son  of 
Aruns,  is  Veilia,  his  fair  young  wife. 
She  has  an  exquisite  face,  and  one  is  not 
surprised  to  learn  that  she  died  young ; 
she  must  have  felt  isolated  among 
132 


THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  VOLUMNII 

such  unsympathetic  family  surroundings. 
Her  face  and  those  of  the  majestic 
solemn-eyed  Medusas  are  the  most  inter- 
esting treasures  of  the  tomb.  All  the 
faces  and  figures  of  the  Volumnii  are 
intensely  life-like ;  Aruns  himself  has 
a  purse-proud  expression. 

Coming  out  into  welcome  fresh  air 
and  daylight,  we  saw  that  the  entrance 
to  the  tomb  was  fringed  by  a  profusion 
of  maidenhair  fern,  growing  between  the 
blocks  of  travertine.  A  weird -faced 
child,  with  dark  eyes  shining  through  a 
tangle  of  dusky  hair,  showed  a  brilliant 
gleam  of  white  teeth  as  she  offered  us 
tufts  of  this  fern  ruthlessly  torn  out 
by  its  roots.  She  seemed  the  uncanny 
guardian  of  the  place. 

Another  walk  with  an  outlook  less 
splendid  than  that  of  the  Veduta  and 
others,  yet  with  a  special  charm  of  its 
own,  was  a  great  favourite  with  us.  To 
reach  it  one  has  to  go  past  the  interesting 
old  church  of  San  Ercolano,  instead  of 
133 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

turning  up  beside  it,  till  some  iron 
gates  are  arrived  at ;  outside  these,  the 
way  was  blocked  on  the  right,  so  we 
turned  leftwards,  and  followed  the  course 
of  the  picturesque  old  wall ;  ancient 
houses  rise  above  it,  and  the  wall  itself 
is  crowned  with  flowers  in  pots  and 
stone  vases.  Here  and  there  we  saw 
vine- wreathed  loggias  ;  then,  at  the  far 
end  of  a  sudden  turn,  there  came  into 
view  Monte  Luce,  with  its  old  church 
and  convent,  and  grand  blue  hills  rising 
beyond.  I  believe  the  church  is  really 
called  Santa  Maria  Assunta  ;  it  is  the 
bourne  of  a  yearly  pilgrimage  at  the 
time  of  the  great  cattle  fair,  which 
takes  place  on  the  green  down  across 
the  road. 

We  passed  through  the  open  convent 
gate  into  a  quaint  and  peaceful  scene, 
a  small  grassed  quadrangle  closed 
in  by  a  wall  and  the  sacristan's 
house ;  facing  us  was  the  west  front 
of  the  church,  with  a  large  window 
under  its  low  gable.  The  church  wall 
134 


THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  VOLUMNII 

itself  is  checkered  with  squares  of  red 
and  white  stone.  The  two  green  doors, 
under  a  double  arch,  were  almost  as 
vivid  in  colour  as  the  lizards  basking 
between  the  stones.  On  the  right  was 
a  low  and  singularly  massive  campanile  ; 
its  huge  blue  and  white  clock-face  giving 
a  peculiar  quaintness  to  the  place.  There 
is  a  projecting  side  chapel  below,  with 
slit  -  like  windows ;  beyond  this  is  a 
cloister  walk,  its  low  tiled  roof  supported 
by  solid  white-wash ed  piers .  This  cloister 
goes  on  to  the  angle  where  the  convent 
buildings  adjoin  the  church,  and  extends 
from  this  angle  along  the  southern  and 
eastern  sides  of  the  little  green  square 
to  the  entrance  gates  ;  on  one  side  is 
an  upper  storey,  reached  by  a  flight  of 
bricked  steps. 

A  woman,  sad  and  quiet-looking,  but 
with  a  sweet  expression  on  her  olive- 
hued  face,  showed  us  the  church,  and 
the  little  choir  of  the  Sisters  behind 
the  high  altar.  She  told  us  how  the 
nuns  from  the  suppressed  and  desecrated 
135 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

convent  of  Santa  Giuliana  *'  had  been 
driven  to  take  refuge  in  this  blessed 
house  of  Santa  Maria  Assunta.'*  She 
added  with  a  deep  sigh,  ''  Who  knows 
what  will  happen  next  ?  " 

It  seemed  sad  that  such  a  peaceful 
home  as  this  should  be  threatened. 

A  few  steps  beyond  this  church  brought 
us  to  a  low  wall ;  here  we  sat  and 
enjoyed  the  distant  view  framed  in  by 
tall  trees.  It  differs  from  any  other 
point  in  Perugia,  in  having  a  more 
varied  foreground.  This  is  broken  up 
by  green  hills,  with  bright  -  looking 
country  houses  nestling  among  gardens 
and  orchards,  and  surrounded  by  dark 
trees ;  behind  are  the  ever  -  beautiful 
Apennines;  between,  in  mid  distance,  is 
that  mingling  of  colour  created  by  the 
luxuriant  vegetation  of  this  fertile  valley. 
It  was  varied  on  this  evening  by  cloud- 
shadows  cast  on  its  mellowed  sunny 
glow. 

While  we  sit  enjoying  all  this  beauty, 
the  Angelus  sounds  in  sweet  harmony 
136 


THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  VOLUMNII 

with  the  scene ;  three,  four,  five,  then 
one  long  drawn-out  solemn  note. 

From  the  frequent  campaniles  the 
bells  call  one  to  another,  and  give  deep- 
toned  musical  response  across  the  green 
hollows  that  Vandyke  themselves  up 
the  walled  hillside  into  the  town  ;  the 
brilliant  sunset  showing  in  bold  relief 
the  salient  balconies  of  a  Palazzo  not 
far  away. 

We  came  back  into  the  city  by  another 
gate,  and  lost  our  way.  Finally,  how- 
ever, we  turned  up  a  very  steep  street, 
and  then  down  flights  of  steps  by  the 
church  of  San  Fiorenzo.  There  is 
here  a  curious  old  wall  with  a  garden 
above  it ;  a  workman  told  us  it  was 
the  curate's  garden. 

In  the  lingering  gleams  of  sunlight, 
oleander  blossoms  overhead  were  glow- 
ing masses  of  colour  against  the  grey 
stone  wall. 


137 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   VIA   APPIA 

THE  Oratory  of  San  Bernardino  is 
near  to  gardens,  orchards,  and 
drying  grounds.  Beyond  the  convent 
of  San  Francesco  the  ancient  wall  goes 
northward,  and  then  turns  east  towards 
the  Porta  Augusta,  but  this  afternoon 
we  went  southwards. 

A  short  walk  down  a  steep  narrow 
street  beneath  an  archway  led  us 
out  of  the  low-browed  passage  of 
the  Etruscan  Porta  Susanna  on  to  the 
wall  itself.  This  rises  up  directly  from 
La  Cupa,  as  the  indentation  which 
the  valley  here  makes  is  called.  The 
wall  follows  the  curves  of  the  hills, 
always  keeping  close  to  the  edge  of  the 
descent,  and,  as  I  have  already  said, 
138 


lORTA    SUSANNA 


To  face  page  ijS.] 


THE  VIA  APPIA 

where  an  angle  is  sharply  turned  a 
bold  round  tower  stands  out  sentinel- 
wise  against  the  blue  sky. 

Below  the  wall  the  fertile  dell  was 
literally  covered  with  vines,  olives,  fig 
and  mulberry  trees ;  plots  of  blue-green 
cabbage  and  shining  lettuce  covered 
bare  spaces  of  brown  earth.  In  winter 
a  torrent  flows  through  the  Cupa. 

To-day  the  long  range  of  hill  on  the 
left  looked  red- brown,  variegated  with 
green  and  grey ;  behind  its  shoulder 
a  more  distant  mountain  showed  opal ; 
tall  regular  houses  of  the  ancient  city 
rose  one  behind  another  on  the  right, 
and  the  last  brick  tower,  that  of  the 
Scalzi,  rose  above  them  all. 

The  wall  makes  here  an  inward  angle 
before  it  goes  out  far  away  westward 
to  another  point  of  the  star-shaped  hill, 
and  here  the  view^  becomes  more  beauti- 
ful. The  outlines  of  the  mountains  cross, 
and  reveal  through  the  openings  yet 
another  ridge  behind,  and  this  farther 
ridge  looks  a  delicate  opal,  while  the 
139 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

sunbeams  become  less  powerful.  On  the 
right  the  hills  stretched  in  two  purple 
undulating  lines,  between  them  a  rosy 
vapour  moved  slowly,  deepening  in  tint 
as  it  rose  towards  the  orange-coloured 
clouds.  Masses  of  grey  now  sent 
up  warnings  from  below,  and  partly 
obscured  the  rosy  vapour ;  southward 
the  grey  took  a  lurid  tinge,  and  across 
it  floated  pale  phantom-like  cloudlets. 
The  far-off  hill,  as  we  looked  southward, 
had  become  a  purple-blue,  while  the 
town  in  the  space  between  climbed 
upw^ards  in  terraces,  the  houses  bowered 
in  vines  and  garden  blossoms. 

This  is  not  so  extended  a  prospect 
as  some  others  that  are  to  be  had 
from  the  walls  of  Perugia,  but  I  am 
inclined  to  consider  it  one  of  the  most 
interesting,  from  the  double  view  it 
offers  of  the  town  and  of  the  quaint 
formation  of  the  steep-sided,  triangular 
valley,  with  its  mysterious  depth  of 
vegetation  below. 

We  kept  along  the  wall  for  some 
140 


THE  VIA  APPIA 

distance,  then  our  road  led  us  away 
from  it  between  old  stone  garden  walls, 
supports  for  vines  and  figs,  and  brilliant 
orange  begonia  blossoms  which  peep 
above  them.  Quaint  side-streets  looked 
tempting  on  our  left.  Going  up  one 
of  these,  we  found  a  portion  of 
Etruscan  wall  with  an  opening  in  it  of 
the  same  period  of  stone- work. 

The  street  beyond  mounted  steeply 
to  where  a  brick  arch  spanned  it  :  on 
one  side  a  flight  of  broken  steps  led  up 
to  a  tall  house  above  the  wall ;  a  loggia, 
corbelled  out  from  between  the  house 
and  the  grey  pointed  arch,  was  filled 
with  charming  foliage  and  flowers  ;  an 
iron  crane  projected  from  the  balcony 
over  a  brick  water-tank  beside  the  broken 
steps.  The  variety  of  form  and  colour 
was  most  vivid  against  the  shadow 
within  the  arch;  its  two  projecting  im- 
posts were  massive  slabs  of  travertine, 
and  beside  one  of  these,  gleaming  out 
of  the  shadow,  was  a  little  shrine  with 
a  nosegay  of  freshly-gathered  flowers. 
141 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

In  and  out  of  narrow  streets,  up  and 
down  quaint  steps,  we  reached  at  last 
the  Ivory  Gate,  the  Etruscan  Porta 
Eburnea,  —  that  very  quaintly  -  placed 
old  gate,  from  which  a  steep  road  goes 
down  into  the  country. 

We  had  here  an  extended  view  of  the 
wall,  curving  grandly  forward  to  a  pro- 
jecting point,  and  completely  obscuring 
all  view  of  La  Cupa  ;  the  point  itself 
crowned  by  a  most  picturesque  round 
tower,  standing  out  vividly  from  its 
background  of  purple  hills. 

The  road  from  Porta  Eburnea  looked 
attractive.  On  this  special  day  it  was 
thronged  with  peasants  going  home 
from  market.  Some  of  the  women 
stopped  outside  the  gate ;  taking  off 
their  boots,  they  slung  them  over  their 
shoulders,  or  put  them  in  their  baskets ; 
then,  with  brown  bare  feet  and  legs, 
they  went  down  the  steep  dusty  road 
with  rapid,  swinging  steps.  Most  of 
these  bare-footed  women  wore  handsome 
coral  necklaces ;  and  yet  shopkeepers 
142 


lORTA    EBURNEA 


To  face  page  142.] 


THE  VIA  APPIA 

asked  from  eighty  to  three  hundred 
francs  for  a  string  of  these  beads.  Just 
outside  the  gate  a  man  and  several  boys 
were  playing  some  game  with  walnuts. 

Coming  home  one  evening  from  the 
twisting  way  behind  the  cathedral,  we 


OUTSIDE   PERUGIA. 


reached  a  lofty  arched  opening  with 
''  Via  Appia  "  printed  on  one  side.  The 
arch  itself  has  a  house  above  it ;  a 
second  arch  within,  with  grey  projecting 
imposts,  shows  a  broad  steep  descent, 
—  a  long  flight  of  shallow  brick  steps, 
so  undecided  as  to  the  course  they  shall 
143 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

take  that  they  curve  first  one  way  and 
then  another,  before  they  reach  the 
bottom  of  the  descent. 

Some  way  down,  a  viaduct  supported 
by  three  broad  arclies  comes  out  beside 
the  stone-edged  brick  steps,  while  trans- 
versely right,  and  left  are  stone  walls; 
that  on  the  right  is  high  and  massive, 
and  from  its  grey-green  stones  were 
hanging  long  garlands  of  white-blossomed 
caper  plant. 

Beyond,  just  before  the  wall  joins 
some  old  stone  houses,  we  saw  a  little 
pergola  covered  with  the  tender  green 
of  the  vine.  From  the  deep  hollow 
into  which  the  steps  descend  the  town 
rises  up  in  front,  and  as  we  go  down, 
the  old  houses  on  our  left,  with  gardens 
and  orchards,  stand  at  a  great  height 
above  us,  looking  black  against  the 
glowing  sky. 

From  this  viaduct  is  an  extended  view 

over   many  curious   roofs   covered  with 

semicircular  tiles,  frosted  with  gold  and 

silver  lichens  and  patches  of  green  moss. 

144 


— — "WX'iiAvVs^ty' 


VIA   APPIA  AND   TOWN. 


^  or  THt 


THE  VIA  APPIA 

First  comes  a  series  of  gardens,  green 
with  vines  and  fig-trees ;  beyond  these, 
among  the  grey  houses  and  trees,  appears 
the  great  modern  building  of  the  Uni- 
versity. Beyond  it  is  the  silk  factory 
of  Count  Faina ;  behind  all  are  the 
purple  hills. 

Instead  of  crossing  the  viaduct  we 
went  down  to  the  bottom  of  the 
seemingly  interminable  brick  staircase, 
catching  sight  through  the  viaduct 
arches  on  the  left  of  a  succession  of 
pictures :  cottages  backed  by  trees  with 
children  in  front  at  play,  all  in  a  vivid 
effect  of  light  and  shade,  framed  in  by 
the  low,  broad  arches. 

This  brought  us  finally  on  to  a  road 
leading  back  into  the  town,  spanned 
on  the  left  by  another  broad  arch  of 
the  viaduct.  Through  this  a  group  of 
feathered  acacias  glowed  golden -green 
in  the  sunshine  against  picturesque 
houses  backed  by  the  hills. 

The  pointed  arch  on  the  right  looks 
quaint,  from  the  contrast  of  its  huge 
147 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

grey  stones  and  small  many  -  shaped 
windows,  mostly  open ;  some  of  them 
gay  with  scarlet  flowers  ;  one  window 
had  a  faded  green  curtain,  drawn  half 
across ;  a  bird-cage  hung  outside  it. 
Behind  the  curtain  the  olive-hued  face 
of  a  woman  peeped  out. 

Through  the  arch  was  a  strong  effect 
of  golden  light  and  blue-purple  shadow ; 
while  we  looked  behind,  there  came  a 
donkey,  driven  by  a  merry-eyed,  bare- 
footed lad,  dragging  a  cart  heaped  with 
brushwood.  A  little  way  on  along  the 
road  is  the  mosaic  pavement  discovered 
several  years  ago  in  some  Roman  baths. 
The  pavement  is  in  singularly  good 
preservation,  and  the  design  is  very 
remarkable.  Orpheus,  a  colossal  black 
figure  on  a  white  ground,  sits  with  out- 
stretched arm,  while  a  Hon,  a  tiger, 
an  elephant,  a  hippopotamus,  stags, 
a  rhinoceros,  a  horse,  birds  of  various 
kinds,  a  snail,  a  monkey,  a  tortoise, 
and  other  creatures  are  drawn  towards 
him  from  all  sides. 

148 


r 
/ 

y* 


THE  VIA  APPIA 

A  handsome  dark-eyed  girl  kept  on 
sweeping  dust  from  the  mosaic,  and  was 
eager  to  point  out  that  the  brick-work 
on  one  side  has  not  been  examined, 
and  probably  hides  a  good  deal  more 
of  the  pavement,  as  yet  unexcavated. 
The  girl  was  so  bright  and  good 
to  look  at,  that  she  seemed  ([uite  a 
part  of  the  show.  Turning  through 
the  arch,  we  very  soon  reached  Piazza 
Grimani,  which  has  on  one  side  the 
Palazzo  Antinori.  Close  by  is  the  wonder 
of  Perugia — the  Etruscan  gateway,  or, 
as  it  is  called  from  the  inscription  set 
over  it  by  the  Romans  when  they  took 
the  city,  the  Porta  Augusta.  It  was 
growing  dusk,  and  the  effect  of  this 
grand  mass  of  stone-work  was  stupen- 
dous. On  each  side  of  the  arched  gate- 
way are  massive  towers, — the  upper  part 
of  the  structure  is  less  ancient  than 
the  towers  are ;  one  of  them  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  loggia.  Some  of  the 
blocks  of  stone  in  the  Etruscan  part 
of  the  wall  are  enormous,  many  of  them 
151 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

four  feet  long,  and  within  the  gloom 
of  the  arch  is  the  wall,  built  on  the 
same  gigantic  scale. 

As  we  went  home  through  the  narrow, 
dark  Via  Vecchia,  we  saw  a  very  quaint 
scene.  In  a  long,  dark  room,  dimly 
lighted  by  two  oil-lamps  hanging  from 
the  ceiling,  a  man  and  woman  were 
selling  soup  and  cold  meat  at  a  sort  of 
counter.  The  brown  characteristic  faces 
and  shining  eyes  of  their  ragged  cus- 
tomers told  out  wonderfully  as  occasional 
gleams  from  the  lamps  above  singled 
them  from  the  semi-darkness.  In  this 
street  we  saw  many  examples  of  the 
walled-up  doors  by  which  the  dead 
had  been  formerly  carried  out,  closed 
up,  so  that  the  living  might  never  pass 
by  the  same  way. 

Our  next  view  of  Porta  Augusta 
was  by  daylight.  We  had  been  told 
by  some  one  staying  in  Perugia  where 
to  seek  a  special  point  of  view  from 
the  old  walls  near  this  arch.  The  Porta 
Augusta  is  even  finer  in  full  light,  which 
152 


PORTA   AUGUSTA,    PERUGIA. 


THE  VIA  APPIA 

reveals  the  immense  strength  of  its  con- 
struction. When  one  considers  that 
these  great  blocks  of  stone  must  have 
been  brought  from  a  long  distance, 
it  is  sad  to  think  of  the  poor  slaves 
whose  labour  brought  them  and  set 
them  in  their  places  for  their  Etruscan 
masters.  Near  here  must  have  been  the 
house  of  that  chief  citizen  who,  seeing 
the  Romans,  headed  by  Octavius  Caesar, 
masters  of  his  native  city,  and  that  there 
was  no  longer  a  hope  of  freedom  from 
the  detested  yoke,  set  fire  to  his  dwelling, 
and  burned  himself  and  his  whole  family 
therein,  heedless  that  the  blaze  spreading 
in  all  directions  destroyed  the  chief  part 
of  Etruscan  Perugia. 

Instead  of  following  the  Via  Lungari, 
or  Garibaldi,  on  this  occasion,  our  instruc- 
tions sent  us  down  a  narrow  street  in 
a  parallel  direction,  until  we  were  stopped 
by  the  inward  curve  of  the  city  wall. 
Just  before  we  reached  this,  our  way 
was  blocked  by  two  wine  carts  laden 
with  barrels  of  new-made  wine,  and 
155 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 


drawn  by  a  pair  of  huge  cream-coloured 
oxen,  with  soft  dark  eyes  and  long 
horns  reaching  from  one  side  of  the 
street  to  the  other.  I  delight  in  these 
splendid  creatures ;  they  look  so  gentle, 
and  though  so  huge  they  seem  uncon- 
scious of  their  power.     They  moved  on 

at  last,  and  permit- 
ted us  to  reach  our 
bourne. 

The  Porta  Buligaia 
was  certainly  the 
most  beautiful  point 
we  had  yet  seen, 
and  we  felt  very 
grateful  to  the  great 
artist  who,  knowing 
every  street  of  Per- 
ugia, had  so  kindly  told  us  how  to  take 
this  walk  ;  for  the  little  narrow  street 
opposite  the  Porta  Augusta  had  hitherto 
escaped  our  notice,  although  we  had 
spent  so  many  weeks  in  Perugia. 

Just  before  the  old  wall  reaches  the 
Porta  it  curves  into  a  trefoil,  and  goes 
156 


PORTA    BULIGAIA. 


THE  VIA  APPIA 

down  steeply  to  the  fertile  valley. 
Through  the  open,  green  doors  of  the 
gate  the  road  winds  beside  the  grand 
wall,  which,  covered  with  greenery, 
strikes  forward  to  the  north,  tall  grass 
atop  waving  like  pennons  among  the 
trees  above  it. 

The  inner  wall  sends  out  a  long  flank 
to  reach  the  gate,  and  above,  level  with 
its  top,  is  a  vine-covered  pergola  with 
quaint  gabled  houses  behind  it ;  these 
command  a  grand  view  over  the  hills 
which  circle  round  in  shades  of  exquisite 
blue,  fading  at  last  to  opal.  Plots  of 
maize  glow  through  a  grey  mist  of 
olives ;  the  vines,  swinging  from  tree  to 
tree,  are  golden-green.  As  the  road  goes 
down  beside  the  wall  beyond  the  gate, 
it  passes  a  white-walled  cottage  nestled 
in  trees.  The  view  tempted  us  along 
this  road,  and  soon  a  path,  bordered 
by  a  black  handrail,  mounted  on  the 
left  beside  a  caper-wreathed  wall  of 
stones :  following  it,  we  crossed  a  sort 
of  farmyard,  where  an  enormous  gourd 
157 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

vine  lay  atop  a  brick  wall;  huge  pump- 
kins were  sunning  themselves  among 
enormous  leaves. 

Beyond  this,  towards  Perugia,  the 
land  was  richly  cultivated  ;  maize  and 
vegetables,  fruit-trees  and  vines,  covered 
every  scrap  of  ground.  Here  and  there 
a  tangled  bit  of  hedge  served  to  prop 
the  luxuriant  vines  ;  there  was  no  prim- 
ness anywhere,  and  3^et  the  ground 
seemed  well  cultivated. 

Going  on,  the  way  curved,  and  the 
view  became  still  more  extended;  at 
last  we  found  ourselves  in  the  road 
again,  and  went  on  till  we  reached  the 
extreme  northern  point  of  Perugia — 
Porta  San  Angelo. 

Some  little  way  outside  is  the  convent 
of  San  Francesco,  and  just  within  the 
gate,  from  which,  up  a  side  path,  there 
is  another  delightful  view,  we  came  to 
the  round  church  of  San  Angelo,  or 
San  Michele.  This  is  very  ancient, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  formerly  a 
pagan  temple  dedicated  to  Vesta. 
158 


or  THE 

UNIVERSITY 
or 

,£4'.  /roHN 


THE  VIA  APPIA 

The  lower  part  is  round,  the  upper 
eight-sided,  but  the  interior  is  circular. 
The  upper  portion  is  supported  by  a 
circle  of  sixteen  dark-grey  columns ; 
anciently  there  were  three  circles  of 
these  columns.  All  but  one  of  the  two 
outer  circles  have  been  taken  away  to 
other  parts  of  Perugia  :  we  had  already 
seen  some  in  San  Pietro,  and  there  are 
two  in  one  of  the  palaces  on  the  market- 
place ;  one  still  remains  in  the  second 
circle  at  San  Angelo.  This  interior  is 
very  interesting.  In  it  is  a  well-preserved 
sacrificial  altar,  and  the  woman  who 
guided  us  explained  with  much  unction 
how  the  victims  were  formerly  sacrificed. 
She  also  showed  us  some  horrible  instru- 
ments of  torture,  and  another  altar, 
said  to  be  Roman.  There  is  a  curious 
bas-relief  on  the  wall  near  the  sacristy. 
We  had  already  seen  this  church  on  a 
festa,  when,,  the  altar  blazing  with 
candles,  the  gaily-dressed  people  kneel- 
ing in  front  of  it  and  between  the 
surrounding  circle  of  pillars,  had  a  very 
L  i6i 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

picturesque  effect, — marred,  it  is  true, 
by  the  presence  of  sundry  dogs  among 
the  worshippers,  and  the  extremely 
cracked  and  untuneful  sounds  proceed- 
ing from  the  music  gallery.  Our  brown- 
faced,  withered  guide  was  full  of  talk ; 
when  we  got  into  the  sacristy,  she 
confided  to  me  she  had  been  foolish 
enough  to  marry  late  in  life ;  then,  her 
man  had  managed  so  badly  that  he 
died  and  left  her  to  take  care  of  herself. 
''  Ah,  yes,*'  she  said,  '*  and  there  is  more 
than  myself,  there  is  a  boy,  and  he  is 
nine  years  old ;  he  eats  well, — the  Signora 
knows  how  a  boy  eats  at  nine  ?  Dio  ! 
he  is  voracious  ;  then  he  must  be  taught, 
and  school  costs  money,  much  money  ! 
and  yet,  Dio  !  what  a  thing  it  is  to 
have  schooling  !  I  can  neither  read  nor 
write,  and  can  earn  but  little  ;  I  wish 
my  son  to  do  better  than  I,  and  yet, 
Signora,  I  am  not  sure  if  it  is  wise." 
Her  keen  black  eyes  twinkled  at  me. 

I  suggested  that  she  must  be  right  in 
giving   her   son   some    schooling.      She 
162 


THE  VIA  APPIA 

sighed  heavily,  and  darted  another  keen 
glance  at  me  out  of  her  hungry  dark 
eyes. 

'*  Yes,  the  Signora  is  right ;  but  if  I 
spend  money  in  teaching  my  son  I  can 
have  none  for  myself.  Dio  !  what  can 
become  of  me  when  these  " — she  stretched 
out  her  brown,  capable-looking  hands — 
'*  can  no  longer  work  for  me  ?  Holy 
Virgin  !  I  know  not."  She  gave  another 
heavy  sigh,  and  again  she  looked  wist- 
fully at  me. 

I  said  that  if  she  did  her  duty  by  her 
son  he  would  be  sure  to  take  care  of  her 
hereafter,  but  at  this  her  face  showed 
me  that  we  took  different  views.  She 
shook  her  head. 

**  It  ought  to  be  so,  Signora,"  she  said, 
''  but  it  is  not ;  Dio,  I  have  lived  in  the 
world  many  years,  and  I  have  not  found 
that  men  are  what  they  ought  to  be. 
No!  not  one.  —  Pardon  me,  Signore," 
she  looked  deprecatingly  towards  my 
companion.  '*The  Signora  has  as  much 
money  as  she  wants,  and  she  does  not 
163 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

hear  the  truth ;  she  sees  the  best  side  of 
people,  they  show  the  worst  to  us  poor 
ones." 

Poor  woman  !  I  hastened  to  assure 
her  that  I  was  not  in  the  happy  state 
she  fancied.  I  felt  ashamed  at  giving 
her  my  modest  fee,  and  said  I  wished 
it  could  have  been  larger  ;  but  evidently 
she  was  not  greedy,  she  clasped  both 
her  brown  hands  round  my  arm  and 
squeezed  it,  while  she  poured  forth 
effusive  thanks.  Then  she  went  back 
to  the  heap  of  stones  near  the  entrance 
of  the  cave  where  I  had  found  her,  sit- 
ting like  a  hungry  spider  in  wait  for  an 
inquiring  fly,  in  the  shape  of  a  traveller. 


164 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  WAY  TO  ASSISI 

■      i 

E  had  for  years  desired  to 
make  a  pilgrimage  to  Assisi, 
and  now,  across  the  lovely 
valley  the  sight  of  the  little 
white  town  clinging  to 
^'°"°'  Monte  Subasio,  veiled  by 

grey  and  purple  vapour,  was  a  dail}^ 
reminder  of  our  wish.  Some  places 
stamp  themselves  into  the  heart,  and 
while  Hfe  lasts  the  longing  to  revisit 
them  increases,  till  reahsation  quenches 
desire.  A  visit  to  such  a  haunt  of 
delightful  memories  as  Assisi  requires 
time,  so  we  waited  till  a  few  days  could 
be  spared. 

It  was  very  early  morning  when  we 
drove    down    from    Perugia    along    the 
165 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Assisi  road,  a  road  bordered  by  the 
silver  and  gold  of  olive-groves  and  vine- 
yards. Fragrant,  dewy  freshness  lay  on 
everything ;  even  when  the  sun  rose 
higher,  and  blazed  fiercely  dow^n  on 
us,  we  had  become  so  absorbed  by  the 
surrounding  scenery  and  its  associations 
that  we  did  not  seem  to  feel  the  brilliant 
heat. 

Now  and  then,  between  the  leafy  trees 
on  our  right,  we  had  glimpses  of  yellow 
Tiber  on  its  way  to  Rome.  Francis 
Bernardone  must  also  have  enjoyed  these 
glimpses  as  he  walked  to  and  from 
Assisi  with  some  favourite  disciple,  per- 
haps along  this  very  road. 

St.  Francis  did  a  far  greater  work 
for  his  contemxporaries  than  any  reformer 
of  the  later  Renaissance  period.  He  did 
not  attack  popes  and  bishops,  or  find 
fault  with  everything  and  everybody 
who  differed  from  his  special  ideas  : 
he  used  the  most  powerful  means  by 
which  to  influence  mankind, — he  lived 
the  life  he  preached.  He  had  been 
i66 


THE  WAY  TO  ASSISI 

accustomed  to  luxury  and  every  form 
of  self-pleasing, — he  gave  up  all  to  follow 
the  way  of  the  Cross,  from  love  to  his 
Saviour.  In  that  brutal  and  licentious 
age,  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  his  example  seems  to  have 
been  irresistible.  The  life  of  poverty, 
obedience,  and  chastity  enjoined  by 
his  rule  sounded  utter  folly  when  first 
proclaimed  to  the  multitude ;  but  it 
says  something  in  favour  of  those  times 
that,  when  the  first  outcry  ceased,  and 
his  fellow-citizens  witnessed  the  harmony 
that  existed  between  his  life  and  his 
teaching,  he  was  left  comparatively  un- 
molested, and  his  work  was  not  materi- 
ally interfered  with.  Though  he  died 
at  forty-four,  he  lived  long  enough  to 
see  his  Order  recognised  by  Holy  Church 
and  by  secular  potentates,  and  to  know 
that  its  widely  spread  communities  were 
firmly  estabhshed  wherever  they  had 
planted  themselves. 

It   may  be   said  of  St.  Bernard  and 
St.  Dominick,  that  they  also  practised 
167 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

all  they  preached,  but  one  feature 
pecuhar  to  St.  Francis  is  not  chronicled 
of  those  other  revivalists, — his  idea  of 
life  was  a  very  happy  one.  In  the 
century  that  followed,  Boccaccio  did 
not  teach  joy  as  a  duty  one  whit  more 
strenuously  than  the  Poverello  did, 
although  the  two  men's  ideas  of  the 
source  of  joy  were  so  opposite. 

One  remembers  the  recorded  talk 
about  joy,  of  that  which  fails  to  make, 
and  of  that  which  is  the  true  root  of 
happiness,  between  Francis  and  Fra 
Leone,  —  a  talk  which  continued  for 
two  miles,  while  the  master  and  his 
disciple  walked  out  from  Perugia  to 
Assisi. 

At  last  Fra  Leo,  called  by  Francis 
''  the  little  sheep  of  God,"  cried  out : 
''Father,  tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  wherein 
can  perfect  happiness  be  found  ?  " 

Whereupon  Francis  made  his  well- 
known  answer,  recorded  in  the  eighth 
chapter  of  /  Fioretti  (''  The  Little  Flowers 
of  St.  Francis"). 

i68 


THE  WAY  TO  ASSIST 

As  we  drove  along  we  remembered 
that  the  hills  looking  down  on  us,  now 
varied  by  exquisite  cloud-shadows,  had 
listened  to  cheerful  lays,  improvised  in 
the  Provengal  tongue  by  Francis  as 
he  trudged  along  this  road.  He  did  not 
have  his  hymns  rendered  into  Italian 
verse,  so  that  they  might  be  understood 
by  the  people,  until  he  needed  them 
to  help  his  teachings ;  his  sympathy 
with  human  nature  taught  him  the 
power  of  music  in  creating  fervent 
devotion. 

Reading  the  Fioretti,  one  learns  that, 
in  spite  of  the  severe  rule  he  followed, 
Francis  enjoyed  his  life ;  there  must 
have  been  a  singular  power  of  fascination 
in  the  man,  who  could  always,  wherever 
he  went,  change  sorrow  into  joy.  He 
rejoiced  in  the  beauty  of  nature,  and 
went  singing  along  the  dusty  way,  be- 
tween the  olive-trees  and  the  grape- 
laden  vines,  which  then,  as  now,  probably 
bordered  the  road  on  either  hand  ;  he 
rejoiced  in  every  trial  laid  on  him,  as 
169 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

a  fresh  offering  he  could  make  to  his 
God. 

Francis  sang  till  the  birds  came  flutter- 
ing round  him  to  share  his  gladness, 
mingling  their  songs  with  his.  At 
Bevagna,  a  place  south  of  Spello,  he 
preached  his  famous  sermon  to  these 
winged  disciples,  and  bade  the  swallows 
cease  their  disturbing  twitter. 

He  loved  all  dumb  creatures,  and 
strove  to  care  for  them,  calling  them 
his  brothers  and  sisters ;  at  Gubbio  he 
tamed  a  wolf,  till  then  the  terror  of 
the  place.  Once,  meeting  a  peasant 
who  had  an  armful  of  wild  turtle-doves, 
he  took  them  from  the  man,  lest  they 
should  be  killed  or  ill-treated,  and, 
bringing  them  home  to  La  Portioncula, 
he  caused  little  nests  to  be  made  for 
the  gentle  birds,  bade  them  live  peace- 
fully, and  increase  and  multiply  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  God. 

As  we  drove  along  the  lovely  valley, 
filled  now  with  golden  hght  varied  by 
purple  shadow,  its  glorious  background 
170 


THE  WAY  TO  ASSISI 

of  hills  in  every  delicate  shade  of  blue, 
with  spaces  between,  an  opal  gauze  in 
the  sunshine,  and  villages  nestling  beside 
the  tree -shaded  Tiber,  we  saw,  hard 
by,  the  grey-peaked  bridge,  so  ancient 
looking,  that  Francis  may  one  time  or 
another  have  gone  singing  across  it ;  and 
we  felt  that  such  a  mind  could  not  have 
lived  amid  so  much  beauty  without 
becoming   interpenetrated   by   it. 

He  is  so  entirely  incorporated  with 
Assisi  and  its  surroundings,  that  one 
cannot  describe  the  old  town  without 
now  and  again  referring  to  the  time- 
worn  tale,  so  beautifully  told  by  Mon- 
sieur Paul  Sabatier. 

Our  two  hours*  drive  between  vines 
and  olive-trees  backed  by  grand  purple 
hills  had  been  lovely.  The  grapes  were 
almost  ripe,  pale  gold  in  colour,  thickly 
hanging  from  tender  green  garlands, 
which  stretched  from  one  tree  to  another 
and  linked  them  together.  In  some 
fields  long-horned  oxen  were  ploughing 
the  stiff  lumpy  land  between  the  vines ; 
171 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

here  and  there  golden  stalks  of  maize 
lay  on  the  rich  brown  soil.  The  sun- 
touched  summits  of  Subasio  and  his 
brethren  looked  like  radiant  clouds;  the 
pure  invigorating  air  was   delightful. 

As  one  nears  Assisi,  the  two  salient 
points  in  the  view  are,  on  the  left,  high 
up  the  mountain  side,  the  great  convent 


CONVENT  AND  CHURCH  OF  SAN  FRANCESCO. 

of  San  Francesco,  with  its  double 
churches  ;  on  the  right,  at  the  foot  of  the 
ascent  to  the  town,  is  seen  the  dome  of 
Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli. 

The  body  of  this  church  was  built  in 

the  sixteenth  century  over   the  original 

chapel,   the   Portioncula,   in    which    St. 

Francis    and    his    disciples    worshipped, 

172 


THE  WAY  TO  ASSISI 

and  in  which  Santa  Chiara  and  so  many 
others  took  the  vows  of  the  Order,  and 
devoted  themselves  to  lead  lives  of 
poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience. 

Huge  Subasio  had  been  in  front  of  us 
all  the  way,  but  we  could  now  distinguish 
clearly  the  long  stretch  of  white  houses 
clinging  midway  to  the  side  of  the 
mountain ;  and  above  the  houses,  the 
campaniles  and  spires  of  Assisi,  while 
towering  high  over  the  road,  supported 
by  a  double  row  of  lofty  arches,  are 
the  convent,  and  the  two  churches  of 
San  Francesco. 

In  a  picture  it  would  be  difficult  to 
give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  approach 
to  Assisi, — certainly  word-painting  can- 
not describe  it.  Probably  the  thrill 
caused  by  the  associations  and  sur- 
roundings of  the  town  intensifies  the 
charm. 

The    varied    colour    of    the    hills    on 

either    side    of    us    had    become    more 

exquisite.     Now    we    had    in   full   view 

the   scene   described   by   Dante   as   the 

173 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

birthplace  of  San  Francesco,  for  the 
town  seems  a  part  of  the 

"  Rich  slope  of  mountain  high,  whence  heat  and 
cold 
Are  wafted  through  Perugia's  eastern  gate, 
Upon  that  side  where  it  doth  break  its  steep- 
ness most,  arose 
A  sun  upon  the  world" — 

Gary's  Translation  of  II  Paradiso. 

For  miles  round,  this  building  of  San 
Francesco  makes  a  striking  landmark, 
and  as  long  as  it  stands  it  bears  witness 
to  the  strange  and  beautiful  story  of 
the  youth  who  gave  up  all  that  seemed 
to  make  life  worth  living,  to  save  not 
only  his  own  soul,  but  those  of  others. 

There  was  no  tardy  justice  in  the 
recognition  given  to  his  holy  life,  and 
the  benefits  worked  by  his  discipline. 
In  1228,  two  years  after  his  death, 
Francesco  Bernardone  was  canonised  by 
Pope  Gregory  ix. — the  tried  friend 
who  knew  the  life  as  well  as  the  work 
of  El  Poverello — as  St.  Francis  of  Assisi 
was  called,  and  the  building  of  the  Lower 
Church  was  begun. 

174 


THE  WAY  TO  ASSIST 

Before  the  century  ended  this  church 
and  the  upper  one  had  become  a  great 
centre  of  art- workers;  in  a  sense,  we 
may  look  on  Francis  of  Assisi  as  a  source 
of  inspiration  to  both  Giotto  and  Dante  ; 
they  were  all  three  originators  and 
purifiers. 

Dante's  description  in  the  Paradiso, 
or  rather  the  story  which  he  makes  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas  relate  concerning  Saint 
Francis,  shows  that  a  lapse  of  cen- 
turies has  not  in  any  way  altered  the 
high  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  less 
than  a  century  after  his  death.  Dante 
was  born  only  thirty-nine  years  later; 
and  as  he  certainly  visited  Assisi,  he 
must  have  been  well  acquainted  with 
all  the  details  of  the  saint's  history. 
It  may  have  been  in  his  exultation 
at  the  triumphs  achieved  by  his  friend 
Giotto's  frescoes  at  Assisi  that  the 
poet  writes,  after  mentioning  Cimabue, 
''  And  now  the  cry  is  Giotto's." 

Our    driver    stopped    at    the    foot    of 

the   hill,    and    told   us    we    had   better 

^75  


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

begin  our  pilgrimage  at  the  church  of 
Santa  Maria  degH  AngeU.  We  had, 
however,  planned  to  begin  the  wonderful 
story  at  its  first  chapter,  and  to  visit 
the  saint's  birthplace,  also  the  scene 
of  his  final  renunciation  of  the  world. 
So  we  bade  honest  Checco  drive  us 
on  to  the  Hotel  Subasio  beside  the  hill, 
where  we  dismissed  our  carriage,  and 
looked  at  the  room  allotted  to  us. 

We  then  climbed  the  bit  of  ascent, 
and  feasted  our  eyes  on  the  outside 
of  the  churches  of  San  Francesco. 


176 


ENTRANCE   TO   THE   TOWN,   ASSISI, 


M 


CHAPTER  XI 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 


S  we  mounted  the  hill  the 
great  shrine  had  seemed 
to  rise  higher  and  higher 
above  us  ;  in  the  flam- 
ing sunshine  the  olives 
looked  a  pale  silver 
against  the  deep  blue 
sky.  When  at  last  we 
took  the  way  to  the 
monastery,  we  seemed 
to  have  reached  a  deserted  town.  Assisi 
was  still  and  lifeless ;  the  very  inn  was 
asleep.  Flies  and  gnats,  however,  made 
us  sharply  feel  that  the  heat  gave 
them  extra  thirst,  and  that  we  were  a 
boon  in  this  absence  of  human  life. 
We  had  been  told  that  the  Lower 
179 


STATUE   OF 
ST.  FRANCIS. 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Church  of  the  monastery  is  best  seen  in 
morning  Hght,  so,  instead  of  beginning 
our  pilgrimage  with  the  first  chapter 
of  the  saint's  story,  in  Chiesa  Nuova,  at 
the  top  of  the  town,  we  turned  to  the 
cloister  of  San  Francesco,  and  passed 
along  it  to  the  terrace,  on  to  which 
the  beautiful  porch  opens. 

To-day  this  porch  was  full  of  exquisite 
effects  of  light  and  shadow ;  near  it 
is  Fra  Filippo's  massive  and  finely 
proportioned  campanile.  The  name  of 
the  architect  of  the  church  is  unknown ; 
but  it  seems  fairty  attested  that  the 
campanile  was  built  by  Fra  Filippo 
Campello,  who  later  on  became  the 
architect  of  the  church  erected  by  the 
Assisans,  on  the  site  of  San  Giorgio, 
in  honour  of  Santa  Chiara,  or  Clara, 
the  first  female  convert  of  St.  Francis, 
the  foundress  of  the  ''Poor  Clares." 

It  is  strange  that  the  name  of  the 
great  architect  who  designed  this  beau- 
tiful church  and  monastery  should  be 
doubtful,  especially  as  San  Francesco  is 
i8o 


THE  TOWER,   SAN  FRANCESCO. 


'  'm 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

said  to  be  almost  the  first  Gothic  church 
built  in  Italy,  and  remains  to  this  day 
one  of  the  purest  and  most  beautiful 
in  style,  free  from  that  admixture  of 
Renaissance  work  which  robs  so  many 
Italian  churches  of  the  reverence  and 
religious  inspiration  created  by  our 
English  and  so  many  French  cathedrals. 
At  San  Francesco  the  very  walls  are 
sermons  in  stone ;  while,  especially  in  the 
Lower  Church,  the  rich  beauty  of  colour 
calls  out  a  perpetual  hymn  of  praise. 

The  offerings  made  by  pilgrims  from 
all  parts  of  Italy  at  the  tomb  of  Francis 
in  San  Giorgio  had,  in  the  space  of  two 
years,  amounted  to  a  sum  large  enough 
to  defray  the  expense  of  building  this 
Lower  Church. 

We  went  in  by  the  porch  to  the 
atrium ;  coming  from  the  brilliant  sun- 
shine outside,  all  seemed  so  dim  that 
we  feared  we  should  not  make  out  the 
frescoes  that  cover,  with  mellow,  deli- 
cious colour,  the  walls  and  low  vaults  of 
nave  and  side  chapels. 
183 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

One  seems  to  breathe  colour  in  the 
atmosphere  of  this  Lower  Church;  the 
very  air  is  painted,  as  Hght  comes  in 
through  the  stained  glass  windows, 
most  of  which  are  worth  a  careful  study. 
There  are  interesting  tombs  in  this 
first  part  of  the  church,  before  one  enters 
the  nave  ;  one  of  the  tombs  resembles 
in  its  arrangement  Giovanni  Pisano's 
beautiful  monument  to  Pope  Benedict  xi. 
at  San  Domenico,  Perugia,  but  the 
Assisan  tomb  is  wholly  inferior  in 
execution.  As  we  stood  looking  up  the 
nave,  we  realised  how  truly  this  church 
embodies  the  life  and  work  of  Francis 
Bernardone ;  it  is  a  house  of  prayer 
and  praise.  Its  exquisite  beauty,  both 
of  architecture  and  colour,  inspires  the 
joy  so  continually  preached  by  Francis, 
in  which  he  lived,  despite  his  ascetic 
privations  and  self-denying  labour  for 
the  good  of  souls. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe,  or  even 
to  name,  except  generally,  the  number- 
less frescoes  which  enrich  the  walls  and 
184 


ENTRANCE   DOOR  TO   LOWER   CHURCH,    ASSIST. 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

the  vaultings  of  the  transepts  and 
chapels ;  the  golden-starred,  blue  roof 
of  the  nave  absorbs  the  light,  but  it  adds 
to  the  mysterious  beauty  of  the  church. 

Perhaps  the  first  thing  that  one 
admires  on  entering  the  nave  is  the 
richly-coloured  cross-vaulting  above  the 
high  altar,  and  that  between  the  choir 
and  transepts.  There  are  four  chapels 
on  the  right,  and  only  two  on  the  left 
side  of  the  nave  ;  between  these  two 
are  the  sacristies.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  in  the  original  plan  these 
chapels   did  not   exist. 

The  foundation  of  the  church  was 
laid  in  1228 ;  evidently  the  walls  when 
completed  were  covered  with  frescoes 
by  some  very  early  painters,  who  failed 
to  satisfy  the  taste  of  the  Franciscans; 
for  one  can  make  out  portions  of  old 
fresco  work  near  the  entrances  to  the 
chapels,  the  wall  here  having  been 
removed  when  these  additions  were 
made  to  the  original  building. 

This  took  place  before  Cimabue  and 
187 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Giunta  Pisano  and  then  Giotto  and  his 
pupils  came  from  Florence ;  followed  by 
the  Lorenzetti  and  Simone  Martino, 
from  Siena,  to  make  the  basilica  the 
burnished  jewel  it  is  to-day.  A  har- 
mony of  blue  and  scarlet,  of  green  and 
gold,  fills  one's  sight  as  one  looks 
onward  to  the  high   altar. 

We  went  up  to  the  right  transept ;  here 
is  the  famous  Madonna  of  Cimabue. 
Above  the  arch  of  the  chapel  within 
the  transept  is  a  beautiful  fresco  by 
Giotto,  of  the  Annunciation,  part  of 
a  series  by  that  painter  of  the  Infant 
Life  of  our  Lord,  from  the  Annuncia- 
tion to  the  Finding  the  Holy  Child  in 
the  Temple ;  the  figures  in  these  frescoes 
all  tell  their  own  story,  and  are  full  of 
beauty  and  dignity.  The  Annunciation 
over  the  arch  leading  to  the  chapel 
is  especially  lovely. 

There  is  also  another  series  of  Giotto 

frescoes   on   the  wall   of   this  transept ; 

in  one  a  child  is  falling  from  a  window ; 

there  are  sweet  faces  among  the  women 

i88 


ASSIST— SAN  FRANCESCO 

who  kneel  in  front.  St.  Francis  meets 
the  child  as  its  body  is  being  taken  to 
burial,  and  restores  it  to  life.  The  other 
two  frescoes  also  deal  with  restoration 
to  life.  Our  guide  said  that  one  of  the 
faces  in  these  was  a  likeness  of  Giotto 
Bondone.  In  this  Lower  Church  are 
many  frescoes  by  Giotto's  pupils,  not- 
ably by  Taddeo  Gaddi  and  by  Giottino, 
who  have  done  very  fine  work  on  its 
walls.  Within  the  chapel,  beyond  the 
Annunciation,  is  an  interesting  series  of 
frescoes,  which  represent  the  story  of 
St.  Nicholas  ;  these  are  said  to  be  the 
work  of  Giotto's  best  pupil,  name 
unknown,  some  of  whose  work  is  also 
in  the  Upper  Church.  The  truth  to 
nature  in  the  conception,  and  the 
simplicity  of  this  master's  work,  make 
the  study  of  it  most  fascinating ;  its 
breadth  of  treatment  gives  it  a  peace 
and  dignity  which  the  solemn  stiffness 
of  Cimabue  fails  to  inspire. 

Giotto  must  have  been  young   when 
the     Franciscans     summoned     him     to 
189 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

adorn  the  walls  of  their  basilica,  for  his 
work  there  is  supposed  to  have  been 
completed  in  the  early  years  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  and  he  was  not 
born  till  1265. 

It  is  well  known  how  the  great  artist 
Cimabue,  on  his  way  from  Vespignano, 
a  village  some  miles  north  of  Florence, 
found  among  the  hills  a  shepherd  lad 
of  ten  years  old,  named  Giotto  Bon- 
done,  sketching  on  a  bit  of  stone,  and 
how  the  great  Florentine  was,  on  close 
inspection  of  the  sketch,  so  impressed 
by  the  truth  to  nature  shown  in  the 
boy's  likeness  of  one  of  his  sheep,  that 
he  thenceforth  adopted  Giotto  as  his 
pupil,  and  took  him  to  Florence,  where 
for  ten  years  the  youth  worked  in 
Cimabue' s   atelier. 

It  is  strange  that  the  painter  should 
have  so  greatly  admired  the  simple 
love  for  and  the  truthful  rendering  of 
nature  which  characterises  his  protege's 
work,  for  Cimabue  himself  clung  to 
the  stiff  drawing  and  unlovely  ideals  of 
190 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

Byzantine  art,  overlaid  with  gold  and 
jewels.  The  most  striking  feature  in 
Giotto's  work  is  the  life-likeness  of  his 
figures  and  faces  and  their  surroundings ; 
and  the  natural  and  simple  way  in 
which  he  portrays  action.  The  faces  are 
seldom  as  lovely  as  those  of  the  Sienese 
painters  in  this  church,  but  there  is 
no  exaggeration  about  Giotto.  Ruskin 
says  '*  his  imagination  was  exhaustive 
without  extravagance." 

At  Assisi  one  seems  to  trace  his  pro- 
gress from  these  early  paintings  in  the 
right  transept,  to  the  very  excellent 
series  on  the  Life  of  St.  Francis  in  the 
Upper  Church.  Time  has  probably  lent 
its  mellowing  help,  but  the  rich  yet  soft 
harmony  of  colour  is  beyond  the  power 
of  word-painting,  ^ — it  takes  complete 
possession    of    the    gazer. 

The  left-hand  transept  contains  the 
chapel  of  San  Giovanni.  The  Francis- 
cans confided  its  adornment  to  Pietro 
Lorenzetti  of  Siena,  who  covered  the 
walls  with  scenes  from  the  Passion. 
191 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

The  colour  is  rich  and  remarkable,  but 
the  design  is  frequently  exaggerated. 
In  the  fresco  of  the  Crucifixion,  how- 
ever, the  figures  beneath  the  cross 
are  beautiful,  especially  those  of  the 
Madonna,  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist, 
and  St.  Francis. 

Another  very  interesting  chapel,  also 
on  left  side  of  nave  below  the  grille, 
which  at  great  functions  is  closed, 
dividing  the  nave  from  the  transept 
and  the  high  altar,  is  that  dedicated 
to  St.  Martin,  filled  with  lovely  frescoes 
by  Simone  Martini  of  Siena,  represent- 
ing the  life  and  miracles  of  Martin  of 
Tours.  The  faces  and  figures  are  de- 
lightful, so  is  the  colour;  the  story  of 
the  saint  is  admirably  told. 

There  are  also  beautiful  frescoes  by 
Simone  Martini,  or  Simone  Memmi,  as 
this  Sienese  painter  is  often  called, 
between  the  entrances  to  the  chapels 
of  the  Sacrament  and  that  of  St.  Mary 
Magdalene.  Many  others  by  Giotto  and 
his  pupils  are  in  the  various  chapels. 
192 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

When  we  had  looked  at  some  of 
these,  we  went  back  to  the  high  altar, 
and,  standing  there,  beneath  that 
glorious  vaulting  overhead,  we  found 
it  difficult  to  realise  that  we  were 
actually  on  the  place  so  filled  with 
memories  of  the  three  great  revivalists 
of  purity,  for  in  their  respective  genera- 
tions Francis  Bernardone,  Dante,  and 
Giotto   strove   to   regenerate   Italy. 

After  a  while,  as  one  stands  gazing 
at  the  great  lunettes  overhead,  one  can 
picture  the  two  friends,  Dante  and 
Giotto,  on  the  space  now  occupied  by 
the  high  altar,  —  the  imagination  of 
the  poet  aiding  the  skill  of  the  painter 
to  perpetuate  the  teaching  of  the  Spouse 
of  Poverty. 

The  tomb  of  St.  Francis  is  in  an  open 
crypt  below  the  high  altar ;  this  crypt  is 
called  by  the  Assisans  the  Third  Church ; 
the  neighbouring  peasants  frequently 
attend  the  early  mass  celebrated  here. 

Owing  to  the  care  with  which  Brother 
Elias,  who  succeeded  Francis  as  Vicar- 
N  193 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

general  of  the  Order,  secreted  the  urn 
containing  the  remains  of  the  saint, 
they  were  not  discovered  till  the  year 
1818.  A  tradition  had  been  circulated, 
and  was  firmly  believed  in,  that  a  third 
very  beautiful  church  had  been  built 
underground,  and  contained  the  body 
of  the  founder. 

This  successor  of  Francis,  Fra  Elia, 
was  doubtless  proud  and  ambitious ; 
his  grasping  worldliness  and  irreligion 
greatly  injured  the  repute  of  the 
Franciscan  community,  but  in  this 
special  case  he  acted  wisely.  Perugia 
had  determined  to  possess  herself  of 
the  precious  body,  which  drew  pilgrims 
from  all  parts  of  Europe  to  make  offer- 
ings at  its  shrine ;  Elias  knew  this, 
and  therefore,  when  the  basilica  was 
completed,  and  the  saint's  remains  were 
removed  from  their  tomb  at  San 
Giorgio  to  the  new  church,  he  buried 
them  secretly,  and  surrounded  them  by 
a  strongly  cemented  underground  wall 
of  masonry,  which  effectually  baffled 
194 


ASSIST— SAN  FRANCESCO 

all  attempts  to  discover  them,  though 
the  Perugians  made  several  attacks  on 
Assisi  for  that  sole  purpose. 

In  1818  the  Assisans  made  a  more 
skilful  and  sustained  excavation.  At  the 
end  of  two  months,  spent  in  piercing 
the  rock  on  which  the  church  is  built, 
and  the  solid  wall  of  masonry  which 
seemed  part  of  the  rock  itself,  the 
urn  was  discovered.  The  excuse  for 
Elias  is  that  he  considered  the  presence 
of  the  saint's  body  to  be  the  honour 
and  glory  of  the  city  of  Assisi,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  wealth  accumulated  by 
offerings  at  the  shrine. 

Overhead  is  the  culminating  glory 
of  the  church,  the  frescoes  on  the  four 
central  lunettes  of  the  vault,  some- 
times considered  to  be  Giotto's  finest 
work  at  Assisi.  They  represent,  in 
allegory,  the  poverty,  the  obedience, 
and  the  chastity  enjoined  by  the  saint, 
and  embodied  by  him  in  the  rule  of 
his  Order.  The  fourth  spandrel  repre- 
sents St.  Francis  in  Glory. 
195 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Probably  the  poet  and  the  pain;;er 
stood  together  on  this  very  spot.  Tradi- 
tion says  that  Dante  aided  his  friend 
in  the  conception  of  these  grand  de- 
signs. The  marriage  of  Francis  to  the 
Lady  Poverty  seems  to  prefigure  the 
Hnes  in  the  Paradiso,  for  Giotto  had 
finished  his  work  at  Assisi  before  those 
hnes  were  written. 

In  the  next  compartment,  a  monk, 
a  nun,  and  a  lay-brother  of  the  Order 
are  seen  taking  the  vow  of  chastity ; 
they  are  supposed  to  represent  Bernard 
di  Quintavalle,  the  wealthy  noble  who 
became  the  first  disciple  of  St.  Francis ; 
Santa  Chiara,  who  wears  the  robe  of  the 
Second  Franciscan  Order ;  the  lay-brother, 
in  a  Florentine  garb,  is  thought  to  be 
Dante.  The  Virtue,  guarded  by  angels, 
looks  out  from  a  tower  above.  There  are 
many  other  figures,  mortals,  angels,  and 
demons,  who  indicate  in  various  ways 
the  constant  struggle  and  mortification 
attendant  on  the  Franciscan  calling. 
Some  of  the  angels  with  beautiful  faces 
196 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

are  busily  engaged  repelling  the  spirits 
of  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil, 
who  strive  to  tempt  the  neophyte,  a 
naked  youth  who  is  being  baptized  by 
two  angels  in  a  font  in  middle  distance. 
The  good  angels  hurl  the  devils  over 
the  rocks  into  depths  far  below. 

The  third  fresco.  Obedience,  is  also 
full  of  allegorical  figures,  and  the  Virtue 
wears  the  Franciscan  robe.  The  fourth 
fresco  shows  St.  Francis  in  Glory, 
surrounded  by  throngs  of  fair-haired 
angels,  who  sing  hymns  of  perpetual 
praise.  The  truth  to  nature  in  these 
figures  is  remarkable,  some  of  the  faces 
are  beautiful. 

One  might  fill  many  pages  with  detailed 
descriptions  of  the  frescoes  on  the  walls 
and  vaulting  of  this  gemlike  church. 
It  takes  several  days  even  to  see  them, 
and  therefore  it  is  wiser  to  spend  some 
time  in  Assisi,  so  as  to  examine  them 
in  their  best  light. 

So  wonderfully  picturesque  is  every 
part  of  this  Lower  Church,  that  it  is  very 
197 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

difficult  to  give  any  idea  of  such  a 
storehouse  of  early  Italian  art,  for  both 
Upper  and  Lower  Churches  seem  to 
have  been  a  rallying-ground  for  Giotto 
and  his  pupils,  for  the  early  Sienese 
masters,  and  for  others  following  after 
Cimabue,  Giunta  Pisano,  and  the  very 
early  painters  of  Italy. 

Fra  Antonio,  the  sacristan,  was  a 
most  kind  and  intelligent  guide  :  point- 
ing out  to  us  the  portrait  of  Francis, 
attributed  to  Giunta  da  Pisano,  he 
took  us  into  the  sacristy,  and  let  us 
see  strips  of  old  embroidery  mounted 
on  frames.  The  faces  in  this  embroid- 
ery were  beautifully  rendered,  and  the 
colour  was  delightful.  The  Fra  told  us 
that  some  English  ladies  from  Perugia 
had  so  greatly  admired  the  old  lace 
in  the  vestiary  that  he  felt  sure 
we  should  also  like  to  see  it ;  among 
it  was  some  very  fine  point  de  Venise, 
used  to  trim  surplices.  I  forget  how 
old  he  said  it  was  ;  some  of  the  vest- 
ments were  exquisitely  embroidered. 
198 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

Then  he  opened  a  door,  and  we  saw 
the  quaintest  httle  cloister,  surrounded 
by  the  grey  convent  walls ;  the  garden, 
in  its  grass -grown  quadrangle,  was 
seemingly  left  to  itself.  We  spied 
out  rosy  cyclamen  blossoms  dotted 
among  the  grassed  hollows  of  the  rough 
ground,  and  our  kind  Fra,  tucking  up 
the  skirts  of  his  cassock,  for  at  San 
Francesco  the  Franciscan  habit  is  not 
worn,  the  conventual  garb  takes  its 
place,  stepped  into  the  quad,  and 
gathered  a  bunch  of  blossoms,  which 
he  presented  to  me,  with  tufts  of 
maidenhair  fern  from  the  low  wall 
of  the  cloistered  garden.  He  asked 
my  companions  to  come  and  dig  up 
roots  of  both  cyclamen  and  maiden- 
hair. 

*'  The  Signori  may  as  well  have  them," 
he  said,  with  a  sigh,  ''  as  those  who 
set  no  store  by  them/' 

He  was  very  kind,  but  we  wondered 
what  St.  Francis  would  have  thought 
about  the  change  of  costume  and  the 

201 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

comparative  comfort  of  these  guardians 
of  his  burial-place. 

We  went  back  into  the  basilica,  and 
up  a  staircase  which  led  to  the  east 
end  of  the  Upper  Church,  built  some 
twenty-one  years  after  the  Lower  one. 
It  is  a  beautiful  and  graceful  example 
of  early  Gothic.  The  Pope's  chair,  near 
which  we  entered,  is  in  red  marble ; 
the  high  altar  at  that  time  was 
surrounded  by  a  screen,  mass  being 
no    longer    said    there. 

Cimabue  and  other  old  painters  have 
covered  the  walls  in  this  part  of  the 
Upper  Church  with  frescoes,  many  of 
them  grand  and  impressive  in  design, 
though  they  have  greatly  suffered  from 
so-called  restoration  by  unskilful  hands, 
while  damp  has  damaged  others.  Some 
of  the  subjects  are  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, others  from  events  in  the  life 
of  our  Lord  ;  the  general  effect  is,  how- 
ever, rich  and  harmonious.  The  long 
series  taken  from  the  life  of  St.  Francis, 
along   the   lower   part   of   the   nave,   is 

202 


^^^Ei^^^^i^'^-' 


CLOISTER-GARDEN,   SAN   FRANCESCO. 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

very  interesting.  There  are  twenty- 
eight  subjects,  chiefly  painted  by  Giotto  ; 
the  rest  are  said  to  be  executed  by 
that  pupil  of  the  Florentine  master 
who  painted  the  legend  of  St.  Nicholas 
in  the  Lower  Church.  Giotto's  fine 
series  in  this  Upper  Church  portrays  the 
saint's  history,  and  contains,  I  believe, 
the  best  work  executed  by  the  artist 
in  the  basihca ;  it  is  much  later  in 
date  than  some  of  his  other  Franciscan 
frescoes.  The  painter  is  said  to  have 
taken  as  his  guide  Father  Bona  Ventura's 
Life  of  St.  Francis.  As  this  writer 
was  born  during  the  lifetime  of  Francis, 
and  was  later  on  commissioned  to  write 
the  saint's  Life,  his  narrative  may  be 
considered  reliable.  The  painting  of  the 
various  scenes  is  masterly,  and  the 
detail  in  the  interesting  events  here  de- 
picted, the  architecture  especially,  is 
rendered  in  a  very  striking   manner. 

These    frescoes    are    so    lifelike,   that 
they  stamp  yet  more  strongly  into  the 
mind  the  impression  created  by  a  visit 
205 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

to  Assisi,  the  truth  of  the  wonderful  con- 
version and  subsequent  Hfe  of  Francesco 
Bernardone. 

One  of  the  most  striking  incidents 
in  this  conversion  is  illustrated  in  the 
fourth  fresco  of  the  series,  in  which 
the  saint  is  shown  praying  before 
the  crucifix  in  San  Damiano.  Those 
who  have  read  the  beautiful  Vie  de 
Saint  Fraufois  d' Assise,  by  Monsieur  Paul 
Sabatier,  will  understand  the  meaning 
of  this  fresco,  though  it  has  been  so 
sadly  injured  by  damp.  For  those  who 
have  not  enjoyed  this  privilege  a  short 
sketch  of  the  saint's  life  is  here  added. 

Francis  Bernardone  was  born  at  Assisi 
in  1 182,  his  father  being  a  rich  merchant 
called  Pietro  Bernardone.  His  mother, 
Madonna  Pica,  is  said  to  have  been 
better  born  than  her  wealthy  husband, 
who  travelled,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  time,  from  one  city  and  castle 
to  another,  journeying  sometimes  as 
far  as  France,  with  his  company,  and 
206 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

the  goods  he  had  to  sell.  He  does 
not  seem  to  have  taken  Francis  with 
him  ;  he  preferred  that  the  youth  should 
remain  at  home,  and  use  his  singular 
power  of  making  friends  among  the 
wild  and  dissolute  young  nobles  of 
Assisi. 

Now  and  again  Pietro  would  ask 
for  his  son's  help  in  his  warehouse, 
but  this  was  seldom.  He  wished  the 
young  fellow  to  distinguish  himself 
among  these  prodigals,  and  therefore 
gave  him  liberal  means,  so  that  he  might 
join  in  all  their  sports  and  amusements, 
in  their  banquets  and  night  revelries. 

The  whole  world  of  this  period  seems 
to  have  abandoned  itself  to  every  form 
of  sin  and  pleasure.  There  was  no  dis- 
cipline, no  self-restraint  to  be  found; 
might  meant  right.  Self  was  everywhere 
worshipped,  especially  among  the  nobles 
and  the  wealthy. 

Francis  and  his  companions  did  not 
lack  bravery.  They  joined  the  Assisan 
troops  in  resisting  an  attack  made  by 
207 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

the  rival  and  far  more  powerful  city  of 
Perugia ;  the  Assisans  were  defeated, 
and  Francis,  with  some  of  his  friends, 
was  for  months  imprisoned  in  a  Perugian 
dungeon.  This  gave  him  leisure  for  re- 
flection. 

Soon  after  being  liberated,  he  fell  ill 
of  a  fever,  and  could  not  return  to 
his  former  life.  He  had  already  begun 
to  see  it  with  new  eyes,  and  during  his 
slow  recovery  fell  into  a  strange  melan- 
choly; rousing  from  this,  he  decided  to 
lead  a  military  life.  He  would,  he  told 
himself,  perform  daring  feats  of  valour ; 
so,  when  a  very  distinguished  knight 
asked  him  to  take  service  with  the 
Pope's  troops,  then  warring  in  Apulia, 
Francis  eagerly  accepted  the  proposal. 

The  night  before  the  two  friends 
started,  Francis  dreamed  that  he  saw 
his  father's  warehouse,  usually  stored 
with  bales  of  silk,  and  gold  and  silver 
stuffs,  filled  with  lances  and  military 
accoutrements  both  for  men  and  horses. 
He  awoke  in  great  delight.  He  con- 
208 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

sidered  this  dream  a  good  omen  for  the 
success  of  his  expedition,  and  rode  joy- 
fully next  day  to  Spoleto.  A  version 
of  this  dream  is  given  on  fresco  No.  2, 
by  Giotto,  in  the  Upper  Church.  At 
Spoleto  his  fever  returned,  and  he  heard 
a  voice  telling  him  he  had  completely 
mistaken  the  meaning  of  his  dream, 
and  that  he  must  at  once  return  to  his 
father's  house.  Francis  obeyed,  but  on 
his  return  his  father  and  his  fellow- 
citizens  were  disgusted  by  his  apparent 
cowardice  in  turning  back. 

Francis  had  always  been  charitable 
to  the  poor,  flinging  liberal  largesses 
to  them  as  he  rode  about  the  country, 
sumptuously  dressed  and  with  his  horse 
richly  caparisoned;  he  now  awoke  to 
the  conviction  that  the  poor  and  suffer- 
ing were  his  fellow  -  creatures,  and 
merited  a  more  personal  and  tender 
treatment  than  he  had  bestowed 
on  them.  Hitherto  he  had  so  dearly 
loved  his  gay  companions,  that  he 
grudged  every  moment  spent  away 
o  209 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

from  them ;  he  even  hurried  over  meals 
with  his  father  and  mother,  so  that 
he  might  the  more  speedily  rejoin  his 
frivolous  friends.  Now,  after  his  return 
from  Spoleto,  he  often  went  to  a  grotto, 
in  a  wood  near  Assisi,  and  prayed 
there ;  he  saw  less  and  less  of  his  com- 
panions, he  even  sold  some  of  his  rich 
clothing  that  he  might  have  more  to 
give  to  the  poor.  In  his  father's 
absence  he  would  clear  the  table  of 
all  food  left  on  it,  and  give  it  among 
his  poor  friends.  He  had  always  been 
extremely  dainty  and  fastidious  in  his 
habits  and  tastes,  and  he  especially 
shrank  from  contact  with  any  of  the 
numerous  lepers  who,  since  the  return 
of  the  Crusaders,  had  become  a  plague 
along  the  high-roads  of  Europe.  One 
day  he  met  a  leper,  and,  after  giving  him 
an  alms,  turned  abruptly  away  ;  on  re- 
flection, this  seemed  to  him  cruel  and 
uncharitable.  Soon  afterwards  he  paid 
a  visit  to  the  lazar-house,  spoke  kindly 
to    the   inmates,    and   gave   each   leper 

210 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

a  special  alms,  kissing  their  hands  as 
he  did  so.  More  than  once,  when  he 
met  a  poor  man  and  had  not  a  coin 
with  him,  he  would  bestow  an  article 
of  his  own  clothing  on  the  beggar. 

His  gay  friends  became  greatly 
troubled  at  his  changed  behaviour. 
They  dearly  loved  his  sweet,  fearless 
nature,  and  his  winning  charm  of 
manner.  They  could  not  spare  him 
from  among  them,  for  they  looked  on 
him  as  their  leader. 

They  reproached  him  with  his  ab- 
sence, and  implored  him  to  return  to 
them.  Francis  announced  that  he  was 
going  to  give  them  a  banquet,  and  did 
so ;  there  was  every  possible  luxury, 
the  table  was  magnificently  decked, 
and  he  was  chosen  lord  of  the  feast. 
But  though  he  was  cheerful,  he  was 
quieter,  less  full  of  wild  revelry  than 
he  had  formerly  been,  and  when  they 
all  left  the  feast,  instead  of  leading  his 
companions  into  the  streets  of  Assisi, 
as  he   had   formerly   done,  he   lingered 

211 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

behind,  till  they  had  to  retrace  their 
steps  so  as  to  join  him. 

They  asked  what  ailed  him ; — was 
he  thinking  of  marriage  ? 

He  remained  silent  awhile,  then  he 
said : 

''  You  have  guessed  rightly :  I  intend 
to  espouse  that  most  beautiful  of  brides, 
the  Lady  Poverty.  No  longer  will  I 
waste  my  time  and  dissipate  my  sub- 
stance on  follies." 

They  stared  in  unbelief,  then  they 
treated  it  as  a  jest,  but  when  they 
found  he  was  in  earnest,  they  jeered 
at  their  idolised  leader. 

When  Pietro  Bernardone  learned  that 
Francis  had  broken  with  his  former 
associates,  he  became  furious.  Already 
greatly  angered  by  the  report  of  his 
son's  visits  to  the  lazar-house,  and  by 
other  instances  of  the  young  fellow's 
charity,  he  could  not  pardon  this  public 
act  of  folly. 

So  long  as  his  son  shared  the  pur- 
suits of  the   dissolute  nobles  who  had 

212 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

so  greatly  admired  him,  so  long  as 
he  was  to  be  found  in  their  company, 
the  arrogant,  purse-proud  merchant, 
keenly  desirous  to  better,  as  he  con- 
sidered, his  son's  position  in  the  world, 
had  been  lavish  of  his  money  to  the 
spendthrift ;  though  even  in  those  wild 
days  instances  are  recorded  of  the 
younger  Bernardone's  goodness  to  the 
poor  and  suffering. 

He  therefore  sent  for  Francis. 

''  You  are  welcome,"  he  said,  ''  to 
spend  my  money  as  you  please,  even 
to  the  half  of  it,  provided  you  spend 
it  in  the  company  of  noble  lords,  so 
as  to  bring  you,  in  return,  praise  and 
honour.  I  covet  for  you  distinction, 
and  you  well  know  that  it  can  only 
be  gained  from  the  world ;  not  one 
soldo  will  I  give  you  to  bestow  on 
vile  lepers,  or  on  churches  and  priests. 
You  are  idle,  I  hear ;  you  spend  all  your 
time  in  praying." 

This  tyranny  greatly  troubled  Francis, 
though  it  seems  to  have  helped  his 
213 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

inward  convictions  by  turning  him 
more  and  more  from  the  temptations 
to  worldliness. 

From  this  time  forth  the  young 
fellow's  domestic  life  became  a  daily 
martyrdom,  except  when  his  father  was 
absent  for  weeks  together  in  pursuit 
of  business.  But  on  Pietro's  return  he 
always  began  to  persecute  his  son.  This, 
joined  to  the  mental  suffering  endured 
by  Francis  in  his  struggle  after  truth, 
had  greatly  affected  the  young  con- 
vert's health. 

Outside  the  Porta  Nuova,  in  the  midst 
of  a  wood,  was  the  little  ruined  church 
of  San  Damiano,  served  by  one  poor 
priest,  who  dwelt  in  a  miserable  her- 
mitage beside  it.  Francis  had  made 
acquaintance  with  this  priest,  who,  on 
his  side,  was  hospitable  to  the  friend- 
less youth,  for  not  only  his  former 
companions,  but  the  Assisan  citizens 
sided  with  his  father  in  condemning 
Francis's  behaviour.  Frequently  the 
younger  Bernardone  would  spend  all 
214 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

night   on  his   knees   in   the    old   church 
of 'San  Damiano. 

He  was  one  day  kneehng  here  in  prayer 
when  he  heard  a  voice  calHng  him.  He 
hstened,  and  heard  it  distinctly  bid 
him  seek  a  closer  walk  with  God  ;  it 
told  him  henceforth  to  devote  himself 
to  the  restoration  of  God's  ruined 
houses  in  Umbria.  At  that  time,  owing 
partly  to  the  continual  warfare  and 
brigandage  under  which  the  country 
groaned ;  also  to  the  frequent  visita- 
tions of  the  plague,  which  carried  off  so 
many  monks  who  tended  the  stricken 
hospital  patients,  some  religious  houses 
were  almost  bereft  of  their  inmates, 
very  few  monks  were  left  to  repair 
and  keep  in  order  the  churches  and 
chapels  of  Umbria,  and  many  of  these 
were  therefore  sadly  dilapidated. 

Francis  felt  transported  out  of  him- 
self, his  doubts  and  difficulties  seemed 
to  vanish  before  this  direct  call  from 
heaven.  In  his  religious  fervour  he 
resolved  to  quit  his  father's  house, 
215 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

now  a  scene  of  daily  persecution.  He 
would  in  future  devote  himself  to  the 
building  up  of  ruined  shrines,  and  he 
would  begin  with  the  chapel  of  San 
Damiano.  In  a  fresco  by  Giotto  in  the 
Upper  Church,  Francis  is  seen  kneeling 
before  the  crucifix  listening  to  the  voice. 
The  crucifix  still  exists,  but  it  has  been 
removed  from  San  Damiano  to  Santa 
Chiara.  A  part  of  this  fresco  is  almost 
obliterated  by  damp.  Perhaps  the  most 
interesting  fresco  of  the  series  is  that  in 
which  Francis  renounces  the  world  before 
the  bishop  and  the  people  of  Assisi. 

After  he  had  vowed  at  San  Damiano 
to  devote  himself  to  the  reparation  of 
ruined  churches  and  shrines,  he  re- 
membered that  he  had  no  money 
wherewith  to  begin  his  labours.  The 
remarkable  gift  he  possessed,  decision 
of  character,  now  impelled  him  to  put 
his  resolve  into  instant  action. 

He    hastened    back    to    Assisi,    made 
into    a    bundle    some    rich    stuffs,    his 
own   property  (not,   as   has   been   said, 
216 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

goods  belonging  to  his  father),  then, 
bent  on  speedily  repairing  the  fabric 
of  San  Damiano,  Francis  rode  off  along 
the  valley,  to  the  thriving  commercial 
town  of  FoUgno,  only  a  few  miles 
away.  In  the  market  of  Foligno  he 
sold  all  he  possessed,  even  the  horse 
he  rode,  with  its  trappings,  and  joy- 
fully returned  on  foot  to  San  Damiano, 
with  a  bag  full  of  money. 

The  arrogance  and  avarice  of  Pietro 
Bernardone  were  known  throughout  the 
country-side,  his  quarrels,  too,  with 
his  son's  new  ideas  were  by  this  time 
public  property;  so  that,  when  Francis 
toiled  joyfully  up  the  hill  to  the  chapel, 
and  offered  his  bag  of  money  to  the 
priest,  the  good  man  refused  to  accept 
it,  warning  the  young  enthusiast  that 
such  a  gift  would  greatly  anger  the  rich 
merchant,  his  father.  At  this  refusal 
Francis  flung  his  purse  into  the  window 
nook  of  the  chapel,  and,  turning  to  the 
priest,  begged  him  to  feed  and  lodge 
bim  in  his  humble  dwelling. 
^  217 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Pietro  was  at  home,  and  after  a  while 
became  anxious  at  his  son's  continued 
absence;  he  went  to  look  for  him  at 
San  Damiano.  Francis,  however,  guess- 
ing at  his  father's  anger,  had  already 
found  a  safe  hiding-place  in  the  wood. 
When  he  heard  Pietro's  fierce  re- 
proaches, he  trembled;  he  then  termed 
himself  a  coward  to  prove  thus  un- 
worthy of  the  call  he  had  received. 

He  resolved  to  go  back  to  Assisi,  and 
announce  to  his  father  his  choice  of 
a  vocation.  His  long  mental  struggle, 
his  nights  spent  in  prayer  and  fasting, 
his  weeks  of  severe  discipline,  had 
greatly  changed  his  appearance  ;  his 
clothing  was  soiled  and  torn,  his  face 
pale  and  emaciated.  When  he  trudged 
into  Assisi,  the  town  children  failed  to 
recognise  him,  and,  excited  by  the  sight 
of  this  strange  beggar,  they  surrounded 
him,  crying  out,  "  A  madman,  a  mad- 
man !  "  throwing  stones  at  him. 

The  outcry  called  his  father  to  his 
house  door  ;  he  saw  and  recognised  his 
218 


ASSIST— SAN  FRANCESCO 

son.  The  furious  merchant  seized  Francis 
by  the  collar,  dragged  him  into  the 
house,  which  stood  on  the  site  of  Chiesa 
Nuova,  and,  after  a  severe  flogging, 
flung  him  into  a  cellar.  Here  the  young 
ascetic  was  rigorously  imprisoned  till 
Pietro  again  left  home  for  one  of  his 
business    j  ourneys . 

He  had  no  sooner  gone  than  Madonna 
Pica  released  and  tried  to  comfort  the  son 
she  so  dearly  loved.  Francis  soon  bade 
her  adieu,  and  returned  to  San  Damiano. 

But  when  Pietro  came  home  again, 
and  found  his  son  absent,  it  is  said  that 
he  gave  his  wife  a  beating  before  he 
hurried  off  to  the  ruined  chapel  in  the 
wood. 

This  time  Francis  did  not  try  to  hide 
himself  ;  but  when  his  father,  in  a  tor- 
rent of  reproaches,  told  him  he  must 
quit  the  country,  because  he  had  brought 
such  disgrace  on  his  family,  the  young 
fellow  respectfully  answered : 

''  Henceforth  God  is  my  only  Father; 
I  cannot  obey  any  other.'' 
219 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Pietro  again  broke  into  furious  accusa- 
tion. He  had  lavished  a  fortune  on 
Francis,  he  said,  and  this  was  the 
return  he  got  for  it. 

For  answer,  his  son  pointed  to  the 
bag  of  money  which  still  lay  in  the 
window    nook. 

Bernardone  eagerly  seized  it .  He  swore 
that  he  would  appeal  to  the  justice  of  the 
law  to  punish  his  son. 

He  did  appeal.  Francis  was  cited 
to  appear  before  the  magistrate.  He 
refused  to  obey  the  summons  ;  he  had 
put  himself,  he  said,  under  the  protection 
of  the  Church. 

When  Bernardone  heard  of  this  answer 
he  appealed  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Court ; 
but  the  Bishop's  answer  to  the  angry 
father  was  a  warning.  He  said  that 
if  Pietro  really  wished  to  punish  his 
son  for  being  good  and  pious,  his  only 
resource  was  to  persuade  Francis  to  give 
up  all  claim  to  his  patrimony,  or  he 
could,  if  he  chose,  disinherit  him. 

Francis  was  summoned  to  the  Bishop's 

220 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

palace,  on  the  Piazza  Santa  Maria 
Maggiore.  He  found  the  place  thronged 
by  the  excited  citizens  of  Assisi.  The 
Bishop,  at  that  time  well  disposed 
towards  the  young  fellow,  advised  him 
to  end  the  quarrel  with  his  father  by 
renouncing  all  claim  to  his  inherit- 
ance. 

When  Francis  heard  this  counsel,  his 
face  beamed  with  joy.  He  stripped 
off  his  clothing,  rolled  it  into  a  bundle, 
and  laid  it  and  the  few  coins  he  still 
possessed  at  the  feet  of  the  Bishop. 
He  then  turned  to  the  wonder-struck 
citizens  of  Assisi : 

*'  Mark  all  of  you,''  he  said,  ''  I  have 
given  back  my  possessions  to  Pietro 
Bernardone  ;  I  once  called  him  father, 
hereafter  I  address  myself  altogether  to 
our  Father  which  is  in  Heaven." 

Pietro  pushed  forward;  he  snatched 
up  the  money  and  the  clothing. 

This  drew  a  loud  murmur  from  the 
Assisans,  for  the  rich  merchant's  arro- 
gance   and    avarice    had    alienated    his 

221 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

fellow-townsmen ;  he  had  grown  to  be 
unpopular. 

The  compassionate  Bishop  at  once 
flung  his  own  cloak  over  the  youth's 
shivering  shoulders ;  his  charity  drew 
forth  a  pitying  chorus  of  approval. 
The  people,  who  had  hitherto  despised 
Francis  as  a  fool,  saw  him  suddenly 
in  a  new  light ;  they  marvelled  at  this 
singular  proof  of  self-abnegation. 

Thus  the  first-fruits  of  his  mission 
were  reaped  from  the  impression  created 
in  many  of  these  bystanders,  who  during 
the  past  two  years  had  scornfully  wit- 
nessed and  mocked  at  his  good  deeds  and 
his  devout  life. 

The  reality  of  the  scene  represented  in 
this  fresco  is  marvellous  ;  it  at  once  tells 
its  own  story.  The  compassionate  Bishop 
puts  his  cloak  round  the  naked  youth, 
who  holds  up  his  hands  in  the  act  of 
renunciation,  while  the  stern  -  looking 
Pietro  bustles  forward  to  snatch  at  the 
money  and  clothing,  and  also  apparently 
to  strike  a  blow  at  his  son,  but  is  held 

222 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

back  by  a  wealthy-looking  fellow-citizen 
in  an  ermine-lined  cloak  and  tippet. 

In  another  fresco  Francis  is  preach- 
ing to  the  birds  at  Bevagna ;  in  another 
we  see  the  arid  summit  of  La  Vernia 
above  the  Casentino  valley,  where,  in  his 
later  years,  he  is  said  to  have  received  the 
Stigmata.  Another  fresco  full  of  beauty 
and  interest  is  called  ''  The  Mourning 
of  the  Nuns  of  San  Damiano."  It  shows 
how,  after  the  saint's  death,  his  body 
was  carried  past  the  convent  of  San 
Damiano,  on  its  way  to  sepulture  at 
San  Giorgio ;  the  saintly  Clara  had  been 
for  some  years  Abbess  of  the  little 
convent  in  the  wood,  and  she  and 
the  Poor  Clares,  her  Sisters,  wept  over 
the  body  of  their  beloved  founder. 

These  frescoes,  and  the  thoughts  they 
recall,  are  deeply  interesting,  and  yet 
the  Upper  Church  is  not  so  delightful 
as  the  Lower  one  is, — at  least,  we  did 
not  find  it  so  fascinating,  although, 
in  addition  to  the  frescoes,  the  painted 
windows  are  full  of  beauty;  there  is 
223 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

rather  too  much  light ;  one  misses  the 
rich  mellowness  of  atmosphere  which 
fills  the  Lower  Church  with  a  dim 
mystery  of  splendid  colour,  especially 
one  misses  the  work  of  the  Sienese 
painters. 

The  way  to  La  Vernia,  judging  by 
the  fresco,  must  have  been  terribly 
rugged.  The  favourite  resort  of  St. 
Francis,  when  he  retired  from  the  dis- 
tractions of  life  at  La  Portioncula,  to 
give  himself  more  fully  to  prayer  and 
contemplation,  was  Le  Carceri ;  the  cells 
are  still  to  be  seen  in  a  ravine  on  the 
side  of  rugged  Monte  Subasio,  some 
way  north  of  San  Damiano.  Le  Carceri 
is  a  series  of  caves  in  the  solid  rock, 
containing  the  monks'  cells ;  it  is  backed 
by  a  wood,  and  has  the  hill  torrent 
before  it.  The  walk  there  from  Assisi 
is  full  of  beauty,  and  it  is  not  a  very 
long  way  from  Piazza  Nuova,  leaving 
Assisi  by  Porta  Cappucini.  Here  the 
saint  had  frequent  talk  with  the  birds 
in  the  woods  near  Le  Carceri ;  the  ilex 
224 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

tree  is  still  shown  on  which  the  winged 
disciples  perched  while  Saint  Francis 
talked  with  them. 

It  was  at  Le  Carceri  that  he  invited 
the  nightingale  to  try  which  could  sing 
longest  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  God. 
Brother  Leo  declined  to  join  in  this 
trial,  but  the  saint  and  the  nightingale 
sang  on  through  the  night,  till  Francis, 
completely  exhausted,  had  to  yield  vic- 
tory to  the  bird. 

While  we  stood  gazing  at  the  frescoes, 
thinking  of  all  these  things,  Fra  Antonio 
said  softly : 

''  The  Signora  and  the  Signori  have 
now  seen  all  I  can  to-day  show  them." 

We  longed  to  linger,  but  already 
the  kind  man  had  given  us  much  of 
his  time  ;  he  quaintly  added,  "  It  is, 
moreover,  my  dinner-hour." 

Then  we  took  leave  of  the  kind 
Fra,  and  said  we  would  come  again. 
We  went  out  by  the  west  door  under 
the  fine  window,  and  rejoiced  in  the 
very  lovely  view  before  us.  We  wished 
p  225 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

our  guide  a  good  appetite,  and  he 
stood  watching  us  as  we  went  down 
one  flight  of  the  double  range  of  steps 
leading  from  the  Piazza  of  the  Upper 
Church  to  the  Lower  one. 

We  were  tired  when  we  came  out 
into  the  sunshine,  and  we  sat  down 
in  the  shade  opposite  a  fountain,  at 
the  foot  of  the  steps. 

A  girl  came  presently  up  the  hill 
behind  us,  her  bare  feet  white  with 
dust.  She  carried  on  her  red-kerchiefed 
head  a  tall  copper  pitcher  with  dinges 
which  bespoke  it  the  worse  for  wear  ; 
her  skirt  was  short  and  dark,  and 
the  light  blue  bodice  laced  up  behind 
showed  a  white  undervest.  In  a 
minute  she  began  to  run  fast,  deftly 
balancing  the  tall  pitcher.  Then  we 
saw  behind  her  a  long-legged  lad, 
evidently  bent  on  arriving  first  at  the 
fountain.  The  two  figures  seemed  to 
fly  along  the  dusty  road;  the  lad 
outran  the  girl,  and,  when  she  reached 
him,  panting  and  choking  with  laughter, 
226 


SAN    FRANCESCO,    THE    UPPER   CHURCH. 


ASSISI— SAN  FRANCESCO 

he  had  the  courtesy  to  fill  her  pitcher 
for  her,  and  helped  her  in  raising  it  to 
her  head. 

It  is  wonderful  how  these  women  can 
so  surely  support  the  loads  they  carry 
on  their  heads ;  the  burden  is  sometimes 
a  huge  round  basket,  three  feet  across, 
full  of  grapes  or  heavy  vegetables. 

We  rarely  saw  a  man  thus  burdened ; 
he  seems  to  content  himself  in  Italy, 
as  he  does  in  France,  with  looking  on 
and  admiring,  while  the  women  do  the 
work. 


229 


CHAPTER  XII 
ASSISI— IN  THE  TOWN 

OUR  little  hotel,  the  Albergo  Subasio, 
is  close  to  San  Francesco,  and 
from  its  windows  commands  a  most 
exquisite  view  of  the  valley  and  the 
richly-tinted  hills.  If  time  served,  one 
could  spend  hours  in  enjoying  the  beauty 
of  this  landscape,  so  full  of  colour  and 
of  variety. 

We  passed  by  San  Francesco,  and 
up  the  long,  solemn  street  which  it 
seems  to  guard.  Grass  grows  freely  be- 
tween the  stones  that  pave  the  street, 
which  mounts  very  steeply ;  farther 
up  were  shops,  but  all  were  full  of 
silence.  No  one  seemed  to  be  alive 
within  the  dark  openings  on  either 
side,  though  from  the  wares  displayed 
230 


ASSISI— IN  THE  TOWN 

it  was  evident  that  inhabitants  were 
not  far  off;  doubtless  all  sound  asleep 
at  this  time  of  day. 

At  the  top  of  the  street  on  either 
side  are  tall  old  grey  palaces ;  one 
of  these,  on  the  right,  has  a  projecting 
roof,  supported  by  long  and  beauti- 
fully -  carved  brackets.  This  is  the 
Ospedale,  with  its  curious  door.  On 
the  left  is  the  Palazzo  Allemanni ;  over 
every  door  and  window  is  the  legend. 
In  Domino  confido. 

The  blue  mountains,  each  range  paler 
and  more  exquisite  in  tint  as  it  rose 
behind  another,  were  seen  through  a 
glimmering  veil  of  sparsely  -  planted 
olives,  and  seemingly  ended  the  street 
we  were  mounting  ;  but,  going  on,  we 
presently  came  out  on  the  Piazza  di 
Minerva. 

Here  is  a  fine,  very  ancient  portico, 
supported  by  five  columns  of  travertine, 
once  the  front  of  a  temple  to  Minerva. 
Behind  it  is  the  more  modern  church 
of  Santa  Maria  della  Minerva.  We  were 
231 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

now  on  the  site  of  old  Roman  Assisi,  for 
the  Forum  lies  below  the  Piazza,  and 
one  goes  down  steps  to  it.  Formerly 
a  flight  of  steps  in  front  of  the  temple 
led  to  the  Forum,  and  the  effect  must 
have  been  very  fine ;  now  the  artificially 
raised  ground  of  the  Piazza  takes  away 
from  the  apparent  height  of  the  portico, 
which  has  no  longer  so  lofty  a  position 
in  the  general  view  as  of  old.  It  seems 
a  pity  that  the  space  round  it  is  not 
clearer. 

Up  a  turning  not  far  from  the 
Temple  of  Minerva  we  came  to  the 
cathedral  of  Assisi,  San  Rufino,  built 
by  Giovanni,  da  Gubbio  in  twelfth 
and  early  part  of  thirteenth  century. 
It  has  an  interesting  brow^n  fagade 
and  a  picturesque  campanile ;  its  three 
fine  doorways  and  rose  windows  are 
full  of  beauty,  but  the  interior  is  com- 
paratively modernised,  although  a  trip- 
tych by  Niccolo  da  Fohgno  is  worth 
seeing.  There  are  many  frescoes  and 
pictures  in  Assisi,  by  Matteo  da  Gualdo, 
232 


ASSISI— IN  THE  TOWN 

Tiberio  di  Assisi,  ITngegno,  and  one 
at  least  by  that  rarely  found  master, 
Fiorenzo  di  Lorenzo.  There  are  some 
in  the  small  church  of  San  Paolo, 
near  the  Temple  of  Minerva,  some  in 
the  Palazzo  Pubblico,  and  elsewhere. 
Beyond  the  Piazza  Grande  is  the  house 
wherein  Metastasio  was  born. 

But  we  found  it  difficult  to  detach 
our  interest  from  Francis  Bernardone, 
who  is  truly  the  moving  spirit  of  Assisi, 
and,  turning  downwards  to  the  right, 
we  were  soon  in  the  little  square  of 
Chiesa  Nuova.  We  knocked  at  the 
church  door,  and,  after  some  delay,  a 
very  old  monk,  wearing  the  Franciscan 
habit,  opened  it. 

He  only  nodded  or  shook  his  head 
in  answer  to  our  questions.  The  interest 
attaching  to  Chiesa  Nuova  lies  wholly 
in  the  fact  that  it  stands  on  the  site 
of  the  Bernardone  house.  The  shop 
of  El  Poverello's  father  is  still  pre- 
served in  the  Via  Portici.  The  high 
altar  in  Chiesa  Nuova  is  supposed  to 
233 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

occupy  the  place  of  the  saint's  bed- 
chamber; a  side-chapel  on  the  right 
is  an  unaltered  room  of  the  house,  that 
in  which  his  mother,  Madonna  Pica, 
dreamed  her  wonderful  dream.  The 
door  is  still  standing  at  which,  in  her 
vision,  the  angel  appeared  to  her,  with 
the  tidings  that  her  expected  child  would 
be  born  in  a  stable ;  this  is  said  to 
be  a  later  invention  of  the  Franciscans. 
There  is  a  dark  cave  in  the  church, 
said  to  be  part  of  the  cellar  in  which 
his  father  imprisoned  Francis  to  cure 
him  of  his  so-called  fanatical  follies. 
It  looked  dismayingly  dismal.  He  was 
probably  flung  in  here  on  his  return 
from  San  Damiano.  The  little  Piazza 
before  the  church  was  not  that  which 
witnessed  the  young  saint's  renunciation 
of  the  world,  and  heard  his  memorable 
vow.  That  scene  took  place  in  front  of 
the  now  decayed  romanesque  church 
of  Santa  Maria  Maggiore,  near  the 
Bishop's  palace.  This  was  one  of  the 
churches  partly  restored  by  St.  Francis, 
234 


ASSIST— IN  THE  TOWN 

who  rebuilt  its  eastern  end.  It  was  pro- 
bably on  the  Piazza  here  that  Francis 
flung  down  money  and  clothing,  and, 
sheltered  only  by  the  Bishop's  mantle, 
borrowed  the  serge  garment  of  a  rough 
countryman,  and  began  his  new  life. 

Francis,  when  he  left  the  Piazza,  was 
free.  He  at  once  set  to  work  to  repair 
San  Damiano,  begging  bricks  and  other 
needful  materials  from  the  more  charit- 
able of  the  citizens.  He  next  restored 
another  chapel  in  the  neighbourhood ; 
this  completed,  he  fell  to  work  on 
the  wayside  shrine  to  which  his  mother 
had  often  taken  him  as  a  child,  the 
well-known  chapel  of  the  Little  Portion 
of  St.  Mary,  or,  as  it  is  to  this  day  called, 
La  Portioncula. 

It  belonged  to  the  Benedictine  abbey 
on  the  heights  of  Subasio,  whence 
a  priest  occasionally  came  down  the 
mountain  to  celebrate  mass  for  wor- 
shippers. Francis  found  much  comfort 
in  this  service,  and  it  was  a  delight 
to  him  to  restore  with  his  own  hands 
235 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

the  little  building  to  a  weather-proof 
condition. 

One  day  the  Gospel  read  by  the 
officiating  priest  greatly  impressed 
Francis ;  it  seemed  to  him  that  the 
life  he  was  leading  could  not  be  alto- 
gether pleasing  to  God,  because  its 
aim  was  only  the  saving  of  his  own 
soul  :  he  ought  surely  to  incite  others 
to  share  the  light  he  had  received. 
From  this  time  there  began  in  him 
that  intense  hunger  after  souls  which 
was,  next  to  his  love  of  God,  the  chief 
motive -power  of  his  life.  He  had 
once  been  pre-eminent  in  folly,  and  by 
his  vainglorious  and  prodigal  example 
had  led  many  souls  to  sin :  he  was 
bound,  he  decided,  not  only  to  submit 
himself  joyfully  to  every  trial,  as  a 
means  sent  to  subdue  his  will  and 
his  self-pleasing  nature,  but  he  must 
try  to  prevail  on  others  to  follow  the 
same  discipline. 

His  character  seems  to  have  de- 
veloped with  every  fresh  demand  on 
236 


ASSISI— IN  THE  TOWN 

his  exertions,  a  development  caused 
not  so  much  by  impulse,  as  by  a 
humble  feeling  that  he  had  not  done 
nearly  enough  to  prove  his  penitence. 

He  walked  to  Assisi,  and  began  to 
preach  in  its  streets.  He  at  once  at- 
tracted listeners ;  disciples  soon  followed. 

The  first  of  these  was  a  wealthy 
noble,  called  in  the  Fioretti  and  elsewhere 
in  connection  with  Francis,  Bernard  di 
Quintavalle.  This  nobleman,  also  called 
in  the  Fioretti^  ''Bernard  of  Assisi,  who 
was  of  the  noblest  and  richest  and 
wisest  in  the  city,"  wisely  began  to 
take  heed  unto  St.  Francis, — how  ex- 
ceeding strong  must  be  his  contempt  of 
the  world,  how  great  his  patience  in  the 
midst  of  wrongs,  because  albeit  abomin- 
ated and  despised  for  two  whole  years 
by  everyone,  he  seemed  yet  more  patient ; 
Bernard  began  to  think  and  to  say  to 
himself,  ''This  could  not  be,  unless  the 
Brother  has  the  fulness  of  God's  grace.'* 
He  invited  the  preacher  that  evening 
to  sup  and  lodge  with  him,  and  St. 
237 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Francis  consented  thereto.  .  .  .  Thereat 
Bernard  set  it  in  his  heart  to  watch 
his  sanctity,  wherefore  he  let  make 
ready  for  him  a  bed  in  his  own  proper 
chamber,  in  the  which,  at  night-time, 
ever  a  lamp  did  burn.  And  St.  Francis, 
for  to  hide  his  sanctity,  when  he  was 
come  into  the  chamber,  incontinent  did 
throw  himself  upon  the  bed,  and  made 
as  though  he  slept ;  and  likewise  Bernard, 
after  some  short  space,  did  lie  him 
down,  and  fell  to  snoring  loudly.  .  .  . 
St.  Francis,  thinking  truly  that  Bernard 
slept,  rose  up  from  his  bed,  and  set 
himself  to  pray  .  .  .  ''  My  God,  my 
God'*  at  intervals  through  the  night. 
When  morning  came,  Bernard  professed 
himself  ready  to  become  a  follower 
of  the  new  teaching.  Francis,  though 
overjoyed  in  his  heart,  told  his  convert 
that  this  was  a  task  so  great  and 
difficult  that  it  behoved  them  to  seek 
for  Divine  guidance  in  the  matter.  He 
proposed  that  they  should  go  together 
to  the  Bishop's  house,  and  find  there  a 
238 


ASSISI— IN  THE  TOWN 

good  priest  he  knew ;  and,  after  mass  had 
been  said  for  them,  that  the  priest, 
at  the  request  of  Francis,  should  open 
the  missal  thrice  and  read  each  time 
the  words  at  which  it  opened. 

At  the  first  opening  the  words  were, 
''  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  and  sell 
that  thou  hast,"  etc. 

At  the  second  opening  the  words 
were,  *'  Take  nothing  for  your  journey," 
etc. 

At  the  third,  '*  If  any  one  will  come 
after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and 
take  up  his  cross  and  follow  me." 

Bernard  at  once  obeyed  Christ's 
words  :  he  sold  all  his  possessions,  dis- 
tributed his  money  among  the  poor 
and  suffering,  and  went  to  live  with 
El  Poverello,  as  Francis  was  called, 
in  a  small  hut  not  far  from  the  lazar- 
house.  The  house  of  Bernard  still 
stands,  also  the  room  in  which  the 
friends  talked ;  it  is  now  called  Palazzo 
Sbaraglini,  and  is  in  the  same  street 
as  the  home  of  Clara  Scifi. 
239 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

The  next  convert  who  came  to  seek 
Francis  in  the  hut,  to  ask  leave  to 
share  his  labours  in  tending  the  lepers, 
was  the  learned  Pietro  di  Cataneo,  a 
canon  of  the  cathedral  of  San  Rufino. 
The  third  was  Fra  or  Fratello  Egidio, 
called  in  English  "Brother  Giles," 
a  poor  labourer,  who  proved  to  be 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the 
group  termed  by  Francis  his  ''  Knights 
of  the  Round  Table."  Egidio  seems 
to  have  been  willing  as  well  as  able 
to  set  his  hand  to  any  work  he  was 
asked  to  do.  Besides  helping  to  tend 
the  lepers,  these  men  begged  their  daily 
bread  in  the  streets  of  Assisi,  and 
Francis  preached  constantly,  sometimes 
in  several  adjacent  villages  the  same  day, 
so  fervently  that  crowds  flocked  to  listen. 

The  number  of  penitents  soon  in- 
creased, and,  seeing  this.  Bishop  Guido 
of  Assisi,  at  first  so  kind,  grew  jealous 
of  the  new  power  of  the  penitent 
brothers.  He  advised  Francis  to  join 
either  the  Dominican  community,  or 
240 


ASSISI— IN  THE  TOWN 

the  Benedictines,  a  branch  of  whom 
had  already  estabhshed  themselves  on 
the  heights  of  Subasio. 

''  Your  present  life/'  the  Bishop  said, 
*'  is  impracticable/' 

Francis  answered  that,  ^'  as  the  Bishop 
knows,  money  is  at  the  root  of  all 
quarrels,  therefore  I  and  my  brother 
penitents,  wishing  to  live  in  peace, 
prefer  to  be  without  it/' 

As  time  went  on  the  number  of 
penitents  increased.  Francis  was  per- 
plexed how  to  dispose  of  them  ;  he 
felt  also  that  if  he  could  gain  the 
Papal  sanction  the  power  of  his  mission 
would  be  strengthened.  He  resolved  to 
make  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  in  order 
to  ask  Pope  Innocent  the  Third  to 
consider  his  Rule,  and  to  give  it  his 
approval. 

Eleven  of  the  brothers  went  with 
him  cheerfully  to  the  Imperial  City, 
singing  hymns  of  praise  as  they  walked. 
They  were  received  very  coldly :  it  was 
considered  that  such  a  dusty,  travel- 
Q  241 


V,\B  R  aT> 
or  THE     '^ 
l/Ml\/rn» 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

soiled  handful  of  men,  with  so  small 
and  insignificant  a  leader,  could  not 
have  the  capacity  to  found  a  new 
Order,  and  that  its  Rule  of  Poverty, 
Obedience,  and  Chastity  was  unseemly 
and  preposterous. 

But  when  at  length  Francis  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Pope's  presence.  Innocent 
saw  in  the  face  of  his  suppliant  some- 
thing that  pleaded  too  powerfully  to  be 
resisted,  and,  after  a  little  more  delay, 
against  the  advice  of  his  worldly, 
pleasure  -  loving  cardinals,  he  gave  his 
sanction  to  the  objectionable  Rule,  and 
named  the  new  community.  The  Order 
of  Brothers  Minor. 

They  quitted  Rome  as  soon  as  they 
could ;  they  seem  to  have  suffered  much 
privation  on  their  homeward  journey, 
so  that  they  were  glad,  as  they  ap- 
proached Assisi,  to  find  and  take  refuge 
in  a  small,  empty  dwelHng  at  Rivo 
Tor  to,  near  the  leper-house. 

They  established  themselves  here, 
but  their  number  increased  so  rapidly 
242 


ASSISI— IN  THE  TOWN 

that  they  soon  outgrew  their  quarters, 
and  were  shown  that  they  were  unwel- 
come  guests. 

When    he    found    that    he    and    his 
followers  could  no  longer  live  by  them- 
selves at   Rivo  Torto,  Francis  went  to 
Guido,  the  Bishop  of  Assisi,  and  begged 
to   be   allowed  the  use   of  an   oratory, 
or  of  any  chapel,  in  which  he  and  his 
brethren  could  say  the  Hours  of  Prayer. 
He    was    told    that    no    such    building 
could    be    allotted    him  ;    and,    almost 
weeping    with    earnestness    and    baffled 
hope,  Francis  climbed  the  side  of  Subasio 
till  he  reached,  near  the  top,  the  abbey 
of  the  Benedictines.     As  this  side  of  the 
great  hill  belonged   to   the   Abbot,  the 
kindly   man,  who  seems   to   have   fully 
sympathised  with  Francis,  granted  him 
the  chapel  of  ''the  Little  Portion  of  St. 
Mary,''  to  have  and  to  hold  for  his  own. 
At    once    the   overjoyed   Francis  and 
his  disciples,  as  has    been   said,  set  to 
work    and    built     themselves     huts    to 
dwell  in,  near  their  place  of  worship. 
243 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Next  to  the  rapidity  with  which  the 
new  Order  made  its  way,  its  most  re- 
markable feature  was  its  social  aspect. 

In  those  days,  when  the  haughty 
nobles  and  the  still  more  haughty 
Church  dignitaries  seem  to  have  ignored 
the  existence  of  the  peasantry,  we  find 
in  the  Franciscan  brotherhood,  from 
its  beginning,  a  complete  union  of  all 
classes.  Its  first  four  members  were  a 
canon,  a  nobleman,  a  rich  merchant's 
son,  and  a  labourer. 

The  Palazzo  Scifi,  in  which  the 
future  Santa  Chiara  (the  first  member 
of  the  Second  Order  founded  by  St. 
Francis)  was  born,  is  only  a  very  short 
distance  from  the  church,  afterwards 
built  on  the  site  of  the  old  San  Giorgio, 
and  called,  in  memory  of  the  iVbbess  of 
the  Poor  Clares,  Santa  Chiara. 

On  his  return  from  Rome,  when  it 
became  public  talk  that  he  had  received 
tonsure,  with  the  Pope's  sanction  to 
his  Rule  for  the  Order  of  Brothers 
Minor,  —  Frati  Minori,  as  they  were 
244 


ASSISI— IN  THE  TOWN 

called, — Francis  found  himself  in  much 
higher  favour  with  the  Assisans. 

Instead  of  the  street  preaching  he 
and  his  Brothers  had  daily  practised,  he 
was  offered  the  pulpit  of  San  Giorgio  ; 
but  that  church  was  found  too  small 
for  the  multitudes  who  flocked  to  hear 
El  Poverello,  he  was  therefore  invited  to 
preach  in  the  cathedral  of  vSan  Rufino. 
This  was  considered  a  great  honour,  and 
it  fixed  public  attention  on  the  founder 
of  the  new  brotherhood. 

It  was  in  San  Rufino  that  this  beautiful 
young  girl,  named  Clara  Scifi,  daughter 
of  the  powerful  Count  Favorini  Scifi,  as 
despotic  as  he  was  powerful,  heard  the 
new  preacher.  Listening  with  rapt  atten- 
tion to  these  new  doctrines  of  Poverty, 
Obedience,  and  Chastity  for  the  love 
and  glory  of  God,  and  in  imitation 
of  his  life,  the  girl  contrasted  this 
teaching  with  the  life  lived  around 
her.  This  new  way,  the  way  of  the 
Cross,  opened  out  to  her  a  new  reve- 
lation. 

245 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

At  that  time,  her  father,  a  cruel 
and  violent  despot,  had  just  laid  his 
commands  on  her,  his  elder  daughter, 
to  wed  a  young  noble  of  Assisi.  While 
the  girl  listened  to  the  saintly  preacher, 
her  heart  and  mind  were  deeply  stirred ; 
she  determined  to  ask  the  Poverello*s 
advice  in  her  trouble.  How  could  she 
follow  out  the  purpose  that  had  formed 
in  her  heart,  that  of  leading  the  life 
he  pictured,  if  she  wedded  the  husband 
destined  for  her  by  her  father.  Her 
mother,  the  Lady  Ortolana  del  Fiume, 
a  daughter  of  the  Fiumi,  those  hated 
enemies  of  the  Baglioni  of  Perugia, 
and  rivals  of  the  Nepi  of  Assisi,  was 
a  devout  and  good  woman.  But 
Clara  shrank  from  consulting  her  on 
this  subject,  lest  she  might  breed 
discord  between  her  parents ;  she  there- 
fore opened  her  heart  to  her  aunt, 
Bianca  Guelfucci,  who  seems  fully  to 
have  sympathised  with  her  niece's  per- 
plexity. 

Francis  was  sorely  troubled  when  the 
246 


ASSISI— IN  THE  TOWN 

trembling  girl  sought  him  out  at  the 
Portioncula,  and  begged  him  to  advise 
her.  He  said  she  must  not  act  rashly, 
she  must  prove  the  reality  of  her  voca- 
tion before  he  could  counsel  her  to 
take  the  veil,  and  thus  withdraw  her- 
self from  her  parents'  guardianship.  He 
bade  her  wrap  herself  in  a  sackcloth 
robe,  with  a  hood  drawn  over  her  head 
so  as  to  conceal  her  face,  and  thus,  clad 
like  a  mendicant,  beg  her  bread  from 
door  to  door  through  the  town  of  Assisi. 
Clara  did  this  secretly ;  but  it  only 
added  to  the  fervent  strength  of  her 
vocation,  and  finally  Francis  consented 
to  her  wish. 

On  the  night  of  Palm  Sunday  the 
girl  quitted  the  Scifi  Palace,  and, 
accompanied  by  her  aunt  Bianca 
Guelfucci  and  a  waiting -maid,  went 
rapidly  out  by  the  Porta  Nuova,  and 
across  the  starlit  plain.  As  they  drew 
near  the  little  brown  chapel,  surrounded 
by  a  thick  wood,  they  heard  the  Brothers 
of  the  Poor  chanting  a  Psalm,  and, 
247 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

waiting  till  this  had  ceased,  the  trem- 
bling Clara  knocked  on  the  door  and 
asked  leave  to  enter. 

Francis  bade  her  come  in,  and  he 
questioned  her  a  little,  then  bade  her 
kneel ;  she  obeyed,  and  took  the  vows  he 
prescribed,  after  which  he  cut  off  all  her 
golden  hair  and  laid  it  as  an  offering  on 
the  altar.  When  her  companion  had 
wrapped  her  in  the  veil  and  sackcloth 
garment  of  the  Order,  El  Poverello  led 
her  and  her  aunt,  through  the  dark 
night,  to  the  way  they  had  to  follow  to 
reach  the  convent  of  the  nuns  of  San 
Paolo,  about  an  hour's  distance  from 
Assisi.  He  told  her  that  she  would  there 
be  safe  from  persecution. 

This  Second  Order  of  Franciscans 
was  called,  when  Clara  had  established 
herself  at  San  Damiano,  the  Sister- 
hood of  "  the  Poor  Clares."  Her 
sister  Agnes  soon  joined  Clara,  provok- 
ing the  stormy  displeasure  of  her  father 
and  her  uncle,  who  was  savagely  cruel 
in  his  treatment  of  this  young  girl.  The 
248 


ASSIST— IN  THE  TOWN 

church  of  Santa  Chiara  was  built  after 
Clara's  death  by  Fra  Campello,  in  red 
and  cream-coloured  marble.  It  has  a 
graceful  campanile,  and  the  flying  but- 
tresses are  very  remarkable  ;  they  spring 
completely  across  the  pathway  beside 
the  church. 

The  building  was  begun  in  the  year 
after  Santa  Clara's  death,  but  the  nuns 
remained  at  San  Damiano  for  fifteen 
years  longer ;  then  the  body  of  their 
foundress  was  removed  to  Santa  Chiara, 
and  they  took  up  their  abode  in  the 
convent  adjoining  the  church.  There 
are  interesting  pictures  in  this  fine 
building,  especially  in  the  chapel  of 
San  Giorgio,  and  by  this  date  the 
chapel  probably  contains  the  famous 
and  very  ancient  crucifix  brought 
here  from  San  Damiano,  before  which 
Francis  was  kneeling  when  he  heard 
the  voice  bidding  him  rebuild  the 
ruined  houses  of  God.  This  crucifix 
was,  I  think,  when  we  saw^  it,  in  the 
convent  of  Santa  Chiara,  but  we  heard 
249 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

that  it  would  be  placed  by  the   altar 
of  the  chapel. 

Santa  Chiara  was  built  on  the  site 
of  the  old  church,  San  Giorgio,  the 
first  burial-place  of  Francis,  but  it  is 
not  clear  how  much  of  the  original 
edifice  was  spared  by  Fra  Campello 
when  he  designed  the  new  building ; 
there  is  much  mention  of  the  older 
church  in  the  Life  of  Francis  Bernar- 
done.  Clara  was  buried  in  the  chapel 
of  San  Giorgio,  but  her  tomb  there  was 
not  discovered  till  1850. 

There  was  great  rejoicing  in  the  town 
at  this  discovery ;  her  remains  were 
carried  through  Assisi  with  much  splen- 
dour of  ceremonial,  and  were  followed 
by  an  immense  procession.  The  coffin 
was  reburied  in  a  crypt  made  to  re- 
ceive it  in  front  of  the  high  altar, 
reached  by  a  double  flight  of  steps. 
The  public  are  permitted  to  go  down 
to  view  the  body  of  the  saint  in  a 
glass  case ;  candles  are  ever  burning 
before  it. 

250 


ASSIST— IN  THE  TOWN 

We  did  not,  however,  visit  the  crypt, 
and  our  gentle-faced  conductress  seemed 
surprised  by  our  lack  of  devotion. 

When  we  set  out  to  visit  San 
Damiano,  and  again  passed  by  the 
church  of  Santa  Chiara,  we  noticed 
the  contrast  of  colour  between  the 
rose-tinted  church  and  the  brown  con- 
vent walls. 

We  followed  the  road  till  it  reached 
a  gate  on  the  brow  of  the  hill.  Here 
is  a  lovely  view  over  rugged  hill  and 
fertile  valley,  wilder  and  more  pictur- 
esque than  any  we  saw  from  Perugia. 
A  breeze  had  sprung  up ;  now  and  again 
a  light  purple  cloud-shadow  varied  the 
rosy  tint  of  Subasio,  already  darkened 
in  places  by  ravines  that  gaped  in 
his  rugged  side,  while  the  glint  of  a 
mountain  rill  showed  here  and  there 
like  a  stray  gem  on  the  grassy  tufts 
that  helped  to  mark  its  course.  Leaving 
the  gate,  we  went  down  the  steep 
descent  on  the  right,  between  silvery 
veils,  the  deep  valleys  being  clothed 
251 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA       ' 

with  olive-groves ;  their  pale  leaves 
gleamed  in  the  sunshine  against  bright 
green  berries,  and  ancient  trunks  so 
gnarled  and  shrunken  that  we  wondered 
at  the  abundant  crop  of  fruit  over- 
head. Huge  brown  patches  glowed  like 
velvet  on  these  grey  trunks;  and 
through  the  silver  veil  we  saw  ranges 
of  hills  in  varied  shades  of  blue,  a 
more  delicate  tint  indicating  the  valleys 
that  lay  between  them. 

There  was  not  anywhere  a  hope  of 
shade,  unless  we  climbed  the  bank  and 
walked  on  the  rough  ground  under 
the  olive-trees,  but  these  did  not  grow 
closely  enough  to  give  shelter  worth 
having,  and  the  road  under  foot  being 
fairly  smooth,  we  trudged  downhill  in 
the  sunshine. 

The  way  proved  longer  than  we  ex- 
pected. At  last,  concealed  among  trees, 
we  found  San  Damiano. 

We  rang  a  bell  beside  the  entrance ; 
after  a  long  pause,  our  summons 
was  answered  by  a  beautiful  young 
252 


ASSISI— IN  THE  TOWN 

Franciscan,  who  showed  us  about  very 
courteously.  He  first  took  us  into  the 
quaint  httle  chapel,  and  pointed  out 
an  ancient  crucifix ;  he  told  us  how 
an  angel  had'  come  during  the  night, 
and  had  carved  the  unfinished  head  of 
the  figure.  He  showed  us  on  the 
right  of  the  entrance  the  hole  below 
the  window  into  which  St.  Francis 
flung  the  money  gained  at  Foligno  by 
the  sale  of  his  possessions ;  also,  he 
showed  the  little  cracked  bell  with 
which  Santa  Chiara  summoned  her 
Sisters  to  prayer. 

It  is  interesting  to  learn  that,  though 
she  ran  away  from  her  father's  house  at 
night  to  adopt  a  religious  life,  Clara's 
mother,  the  Lady  Ortolana,  after  Count 
Scifi's  death,  was  received  into  the  Second 
Order,  and  joined  the  community  under 
her  daughter's  rule,  then  called  the  Poor 
Ladies  of  San  Damiano. 

Behind  the  little  chapel  is  the  choir  of 
the  nuns,  left  just  as  it  was  when  Santa 
Chiara  died.  The  refectory  on  the  other 
253 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

side  of  the  cloisters  is  also  unaltered, 
and  above  it  is  the  dormitory  of  the 
nuns ;  at  the  end  is  Clara's  cell.  Every 
step  makes  the  poetic  history  more 
real.  There  is  still  the  little  garden 
in  which  this  sweet,  brave  woman  took 
daily  exercise,  and  tended  the  flowers 
she  so  dearly  loved. 

When  we  came  out  we  found  the  artist 
of  our  party  sketching.  Beside  him  was 
a  small  boy  about  seven  years  old,  a 
curiosity  as  to  clothing.  He  had  on 
part  of  some  ragged  knee-breeches, 
the  remains  of  a  shirt,  and  a  portion 
of  a  straw  hat ;  he  seemed  a  bright, 
intelligent  little  fellow.  He  was  very 
much  interested  in  the  sketch,  and 
delighted  to  be  talked  to  in  his  own 
language.  Between  his  praises  he  held 
out  a  grimy  little  hand,  in  a  saucy, 
smiUng  way. 

Said  the  artist,  ''  How  much  would 
you  like,  my  man, — would  a  hundred 
lire  suit  you  ?  " 

The  urchin  grinned  all  over.  '*  Si, 
254 


ASSIST— IN  THE  TOWN 

Signore,  I  should  much  like  a  hundred 
lire,  but  I  would  take  less !  " 

We  went  back  up  the  olive-bordered 
hills  to  the  pleasant  little  inn,  which 
seems  to  hang  over  the  lovely  valley 
behind  the  house.  Just  before  reaching 
Hotel  Subasio  there  is  a  picturesque 
view  looking  upwards,  the  great  convent 
and  churches  of  San  Francesco  towering 
above  us. 

Even  apart  from  the  touching  interest 
with  which  the  story  of  St.  Francis  in- 
vests the  little  town,  Assisi  is  delightful, 
so  many  churches  and  religious  houses 
exist  there,  full  of  picturesque  charm  is 
the  exquisite  setting  of  landscape  beyond 
and  around  them. 

Wherever  one  looks  between  the  old 
grey  houses,  one  sees  the  valley  full  of 
rich  colour,  and  the  far-off,  softened 
outlines  of  the  hills.  The  town  on 
market-days  is  very  bright  and  cheerful. 

It  is  a  steep  climb  up  to  the  old  grey 
castle,  the  Rocca  di  Assisi ;  it  sits  there 
crowning  the  hill  like  a  falcon  in  its 
255 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

eyrie,  the  little  town  beneath  its  feet ; 
and  what  a  wonderful  prospect  it 
dominates ! 

To  the  west  is  Perugia,  on  its  group 
of  hills ;  eastward  glistens  many  another 
town,  sometimes  sheltered  in  a  hollow 
of  the  hills,  sometimes  standing  out  as 
Foligno  does  on  the  plain  beyond. 

Behind  the  castle  there  is  the  wildest 
of  ravines ;  Monte  Subasio  is  full  of 
strange  nooks  and  glens,  of  which  the 
most  interesting  is  that  of  Le  Carceri, 
the  group  of  cells  built  in  the  mountain 
caves  by  Francis  and  his  brethren.  He 
retired  here  for  prayer  and  penance 
when  he  found  his  life  at  the  Portion- 
cula  distracting.  Close  by  is  the  little 
mountain  stream  of  the  Tescio,  and  the 
ilex-wood  in  which  Francis  held  discourse 
with  the  nightingale. 

In  thinking  and  writing  about  St. 
Francis,  one  forgets  the  history  of  Assisi. 
Till  the  Roman  invasion  of  Umbria, 
this  history  seems  chiefly  traditional. 
Dardanus  is  said  to  have  built  Assisi 
256 


ASSISI— IN  THE  TOWN 

before  he  built  Troy;  in  consequence 
of  a  dream  that  came  to  him  while  he 
lay  sleeping  on  the  slope  of  Subasio,  he 
founded  the  famous  Temple  of  Minerva, 
and  the  city  grew  up  round  it. 

Goethe  greatly  displeased  the  Assisans 
by  journeying  to  their  city  only  to  see 
this  temple ;  he  passed  by  San  Francesco 
without  so  much  as  entering  the  church. 

The  number  of  subterranean  passages 
leading  to  the  Rocca  from  all  parts 
of  the  town  seems  to  prove  that  the 
little  city  greatly  needed  shelter  from 
surrounding  foes. 

From  the  time  that  the  Etruscans 
possessed  themselves  of  a  large  part  of 
Umbria,  and  built  the  city  of  Perugia, 
Assisi  was  constantly  persecuted  by 
this  powerful  neighbour,  till  the  Romans 
overspread  the  country,  conquering  the 
Etruscans,  and  the  grim,  hitherto  un- 
conquered  city  of  Perugia,  burning  most 
of  it  to  the  ground. 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  Assisi  had  fre- 
quently to  submit  to  the  despotism 
R  257 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

of  great  leaders  of  Condottieri  and 
others  who  bore  rule  in  Perugia, — 
Galeazzo  Visconti,  Biordo  Michelotti, 
Forte  Braccio  of  Mont  one,  Nicola 
Piccinino,  Sforza,  and  others.  Before 
these,  however,  Charlemagne  is  said  to 
have  taken  the  city  and  utterly  de- 
stroyed it.  After  its  destruction,  the 
citizens  built  walls  around  their  new 
town,  they  also  built  the  castle  on  the 
hilltop.  This  was  at  one  time  occupied 
by  Frederick  Barbarossa,  and  then  by 
Conrad  of  Suabia  and  other  despots. 

The  two  noble  houses  of  the  Fiumi 
and  the  Nepi,  one  being  Guelph  and 
the  other  Ghibelline,  though  less  blood- 
thirsty than  the  Baglioni  and  the  Oddi 
of  Perugia,  seem  to  have  been  con- 
stantly at  strife  till  the  advent  of  St. 
Francis,  who  prevailed  on  them  to 
live  more  peaceably. 

Later   on    there    was    again    terrible 

strife  and  carnage  in  Assisi,  and  when 

his    lordship    the    Magnifico    Gianpaolo 

Baglione   took  upon    himself    to   settle 

258 


ASSIST— IN  THE  TOWN 

matters,  famine  and  misery  almost  de- 
stroyed  the  inhabitants  of  the  brave 
Httle  city.  Miss  Lina  Duff  Gordon,  in 
the  chapter  called  ''War  and  Strife" 
of  her  charming  Story  of  Assisi,  gives 
a  vivid  account  of  this  siege. 


259 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ASSISI— SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

is  better,  perhaps,  after  visit- 
ing Chiesa  Nuova,  to  go 
next  to  St.  Mary  of  the 
Angels  at  the  foot  of 
the  hill,  instead  of  visiting 
San  Francesco,  the  saint* s  memorial 
church;  for  at  the  Portioncula,  within 
the  walls  of  Santa  Maria,  Francis 
hved  and  worked  and  died.  Most  of 
the  Brothers  whose  names  have  come 
down  to  us  were  received  into  the 
Order  within  the  walls  of  the  little 
chapel. 

The   vast  baldness  of  Santa   Maria's 

nave,  rebuilt  less  than  a  hundred  years 

ago,    in    consequence    of     the     damage 

caused    by    an    earthquake,    was    very 

260 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

uninteresting,  but  at  the  east  end  is 
the  brown  Portioncula,  the  home  of 
Francis  and  of  his  first  followers ;  for 
the  little  chapel  remained  uninjured 
when  the  earthquake  shattered  the 
walls  of  the  outer  church. 

The  dark  walls  of  the  Portioncula 
are  covered  with  votive  offerings,  and 
over  the  entrance  is  a  fresco  by  Over- 
beck.  Looking  within,  it  is  difficult  to 
imagine  how  the  events  recorded  in 
the  Fioretti  could  have  found  room  to 
happen  in  the  tiny  place. 

On  the  right  is  a  chapel,  the  site 
of  the  cell  of  St.  Francis  ;  his  portrait 
is  over  the  altar,  and  there  are  frescoes 
of  his  companions.  Our  guide,  a 
Franciscan,  looked  as  if  he  had  come 
direct  from  the  thirteenth  century, 
but  he  had  not  brought  thence  the 
warm,  loving  glow  that  must  have 
radiated  from  the  founder  of  his  Order. 

The  great  interest  of  the  place  is 
its  story.  The  Portioncula  was  a  well- 
known  shrine,  and  had  existed  for  years 
261 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

before  Francis  restored  it  from  its 
ruinous  condition.  It  has  been  told 
how,  when  he  was  a  child,  the  saint 
was  often  taken  by  his  mother  to  the 
little  chapel,  and  prayed  there  beside 
her.  Two  years  after  he  renounced  his 
home  and  his  father,  Francis  was  kneel- 
ing here  in  prayer  when  he  received 
his  second  inspiration.  According  to 
his  biographers,  he  hastily  rose,  and, 
taking  up  a  bit .  of  cord  near  at  hand, 
tied  it  round  his  waist,  as  the  outward 
badge  of  the  Order  of  Poor  Brethren. 

Our  guide's  scanty  hair  stood  erect, 
and  his  red-veined  blue  eyes  stared  at 
us,  as  the  Gorgons  did  in  the  Etruscan 
tomb.  At  first  he  would  scarcely 
speak.  He  may  have  thought  heretics 
would  not  appreciate  his  information. 
When  we  came  to  the  little  rose-garden 
outside  the  Chapel  of  the  Roses,  and 
talked  to  him  about  flowers,  he  thawed ; 
he  told  us  how  an  unbelieving  English 
traveller  had  begged  a  rose-tree,  so 
that  he  might  try  it  in  Enghsh  soil, 
262 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

and  how  next  year  the  Enghshman 
had  written  to  say  that  the  rose-tree 
was  covered  with  thorns ;  whereas  at 
Santa  Maria  degH  Angeh,  these  roses, 
brought  here  from  St.  Benedict's  mon- 
astery near  Subiaco,  have  been  thorn- 
less  ever  since  the  day  when  St.  Francis 
carried  the  original  bushes  from  the 
Benedictine  garden  at  II  Sacro  Speco, 
and  planted  them  here. 

Our  guide  said  we  ought  to  pay  our 
next  visit  when  the  roses  were  in  blossom, 
**a  sight  to  be  met  with  in  no  other 
place.'*  He  took  us  into  a  chapel, 
w^here,  under  the  altar,  is  the  den  into 
which  the  saint  retired  for  penance — a 
most  wretched  hole ;  then  we  went  into 
the  sacristy,  to  see  a  Perugino.  In 
another  little  chapel  is  the  portrait  of  El 
Poverello,  a  very  remarkable  face,  painted 
on  a  plank  which  once  formed  part  of 
the  saint's  bed.  There  is  a  terra-cotta 
statue  of  him  by  Andrea  della  Robbia. 

We  went  back  to  the  church,  and 
looked  again  at  the  Portioncula.  In  it 
263 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Clara,  or  Chiara,  took  the  vows,  and 
here  her  beautiful  hair  was  shorn  from 
her  head  by  St.  Francis.  Other  mem- 
ories of  Santa  Chiara  cling  about  this 
church  of  Santa  Maria.  Perhaps  the 
Third,  or  universal.  Order  was  here 
determined  on.  The  space  outside  has 
never  been  built  on,  because  it  was 
here  that  the  memorable  meeting  took 
place  between  Clara  and  St.  Francis,  in 
answer  to  her  repeated  petitions  that 
they  might  eat  bread  together.  The 
meeting  is  very  quaintly  described  in 
/  Fioretti.  Clara  had  often  asked  for 
this  privilege ;  this  time  the  Brothers 
seconded  her  request,  and  Francis 
granted  it.  He  had,  as  soon  as  was 
possible,  obtained  for  her  the  little 
church  of  San  Damiano,  and  had  built 
up  little  huts  beside  it  for  her  and  the 
poor  ladies,  who  so  soon  joined  her 
community.  Clara  passed  the  rest  of 
her  life  among  the  Sisters,  and  died 
Abbess  of  the  ''Poor  Clares '*  of  San 
Damiano. 

264 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

The  community  of  Brethren  met  on 
the  open  space  twice  yearly ;  the  great 
chapter  of  the  Order  convened  by  St. 
Francis  eleven  years  after  its  beginning, 
recorded  in  the  Fioretti,  took  place 
on  this  vacant  ground.  The  number 
of  the  brethren  must  have  increased 
very  rapidly,  for  several  thousands 
came  over  the  hills  and  along  the 
valleys  from  far-off  parts  of  Italy  to 
look  their  founder  in  the  face,  and  to 
receive  his  instructions  and  his  blessing. 
Among  others  came  San  Dominic,  with 
some  of  his  followers,  and  the  Bishop 
of  Ostia,  Cardinal  Ugolino,  afterwards 
Pope  Gregory  ix. 

The  space  occupied  by  Santa  Maria 
must  have  been  covered  by  the  village 
of  huts  built  by  St.  Francis  and  his 
Brothers.  In  an  old  map,  these  huts  are 
shown  built  at  regular  distances  on  three 
sides  of  the  Portioncula  ;  among  them 
is  one  larger  than  the  rest,  probably 
the  Refectory  or  the  Infirmary  of  the 
Brothers.  Doubtless  they  lived  here  a 
265 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

happy  family  life,  though  Francis  began 
early  to  send  them  out  to  found  branches 
of  the  Order  in  other  directions.  The 
first  sent  away  from  the  nest-like  home 
was  Bernard  of  Quintavalle,  to  Bologna  ; 
here  he  had  to  suffer  insult  and  perse- 
cution, but  he  soon  won  many  converts 
by  his  preaching,  and  established  a 
community  of  Brothers  Minor  in  that 
city,  over  which  Francis  appointed  him 
guardian.  This  enterprise  was  repeated 
over  and  over  again,  with  success,  till, 
in  his  hunger  after  souls,  several  years 
later.  El  Poverello  set  forth  with  a  couple 
of  Brothers  to  Damietta  to  convert  the 
Soldan,  who  is  said  to  have  permitted 
him  to  visit  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  His 
visit  failed  in  its  object,  but  it  is  spoken 
of  by  Jacques  de  Vitry,  Bishop  of  Acre, 
as  a  fact. 

He  was  never  tired  of  exhorting  his 
brethren  to  live  joyfully,  so  as  to  make 
others  happy.  Their  cares  and  the 
sorrow  for  sin  which  would  from  time 
to  time  beset  them,  they  should,  he 
266 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

told  them,  pour  out  to  God  in  their 
prayers  ;  he  also  exhorted  them  to  live 
always  according  to  the  Rule  of  the 
Order. 

The  Popes  seem  to  have  troubled 
him  by  their  persistent  efforts  to  per- 
suade him  to  alter  the  extreme  sim- 
plicity of  this  Rule,  and  to  assimilate 
his  teaching  with  that  of  the  other 
Orders.  But  St.  Francis,  always  most 
humble  and  gentle  in  his  denials,  pleaded 
so  earnestly  and  so  sweetly  for  the 
original  lines  on  which  he  had  begun, 
that  he  succeeded  in  gaining  his 
point  both  with  Innocent  the  Third, 
and  his  successor  Honorius.  Even  his 
dear  friend  Ugolino,  the  Cardinal  Bishop 
of  Ostia,  tried  hard,  when  he  succeeded 
to  the  Papacy  as  Pope  Gregory  the 
Ninth,  to  convince  El  Poverello  that 
union  with  the  Dominican  Order  would 
be  a  gain  to  the  Church,  but  the  saint's 
sweet  humility  at  last  conquered  Ugolino. 
These  discussions,  however,  which  made 
needful  journeys  to  and  from  Rome, 
267 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

involved  much  loss  of  time,  as  well  as 
mental  weariness,  and  wore  out  his 
decreasing  strength. 

He  was,  after  a  time,  constantly  suffer- 
ing, but  always  cheerful  and  uncom- 
plaining. His  greatest  trial  seems  to 
have  been  the  tendency  he  saw,  especially 
in  the  more  recent  converts,  to  relax 
the  strictness  of  the  Rule  in  regard  to 
Poverty ;  when  he  heard,  during  a  journey 
which  would  take  him  past  Bologna,  that 
larger  and  more  comfortable  houses  had 
been  built  for  the  Brethren  there,  he  at 
once  showed  his  displeasure  by  passing 
by  the  city  without  stopping  to  greet  the 
Franciscans  therein. 

He  always  returned  with  fresh  joy  to 
the  Portioncula,  and  his  life  there  with 
his  dear  sons ;  a  hard  life,  supported  by 
the  work  of  their  own  hands. 

The  gentle  saint  seems  to  have  had 
plenty  of  dignity  v/hen  called  on  to 
rebuke  a  wrongful  act  ;  we  see  this  in 
his  dealings  with  one  of  his  early  con- 
verts, Brother  Juniper,  that  delightfully 
268 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

simple  but  most  indiscreet  of  the  Minor 
Brothers,  yet  of  whom  Francis  said, 
after  pondering  on  his  simpHcity  and 
patience  in  the  hour  of  trial : 

"  Would  to  God  that  I  had  a  whole 
forest  of  such  Junipers." 

Indeed,  on  that  day  Brother  Juniper 
was  in  sad  disgrace  with  the  other  monks. 
He  was  visiting  a  sick  Brother,  and, 
being  afire  with  the  love  of  God,  asked 
the  sick  man  with  much  compassion, 
'*  Can  I  do  thee  an\^  service  ?  " 

Replied   the   sick   man : 

''  Much  comfort  would  it  give  me  if 
thou  couldst  get  me  a  pig's  trotter.' ' 

Straightway    cried    Brother   Juniper : 

''Leave  that  to  me;  you  shall  have 
one  directly." 

So  he  went  and  took  a  knife  from  the 
kitchen,  and  in  fervour  of  spirit  ran 
through  the  wood  in  which  certain  pigs 
were  feeding  ;  he  threw  himself  on  one 
of  them,  cut  off  its  foot  and  ran  away. 
Returning  to  the  house,  he  washed 
and  dressed  and  cooked  the  foot ;  and 
269 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

when,  with  much  dihgence,  he  had  pre- 
pared it,  he  brought  the  foot  right 
lovingly  to  the  sick  man. 

And  the  sick  man  ate  it  up  greedily, 
to  the  great  comfort  and  delight  of 
Brother  Juniper,  who  with  glee  told  his 
invalid  how  he  had  made  assault  upon 
the  pig. 

Meanwhile  the  swineherd,  who  saw 
Brother  Juniper  cut  off  the  foot,  went  and 
told  all  the  story  to  his  lord,  who,  when 
he  was  ware  of  it,  came  to  the  house 
of  the  Brothers,  crying  out  that  they 
were  hypocrites  and  thieves  and  knaves. 

''  Why  have  ye  cut  off  my  pig's 
foot  ?  "  he  shouted. 

At  the  noise  he  made,  St.  Francis  and 
the  Brothers  came  out,  and  with  all 
humility  the  saint  made  excuses,  and 
promised  to  make  reparation  for  the 
outrage. 

But  for  all  that  he  was  no  whit  ap- 
peased, but  with  much  insult  and 
threats  went  away  from  the  Brothers, 
full  of  anger. 

270 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

And  St.  Francis  bethought  him,  and 
said  within  his  heart,  "'  Can  Brother 
Juniper  in  his  indiscreet  zeal  have  done 
this  thing  ?  " 

He  called  Juniper  to  him  secretly,  and 
said: 

''  Didst  thou  cut  off  the  foot  of  a  pig 
in  the  wood  ?  " 

Whereat  Brother  Juniper,  not  as  if 
he  had  committed  a  crime,  but  as  if  he 
had  done  a  deed  of  charity,  answered 
cheerfully : 

''It  is  true,  dear  Father,  I  cut  off 
that  pig's  foot.  Touching  the  reason 
why,  I  went  out  of  charity  to  visit  a 
sick  Brother."  He  then  narrated  the 
facts,  and  added,  *'  I  tell  thee.  Father, 
that,  considering  the  comfort  given  by 
the  said  foot  to  our  Brother,  if  I  had 
cut  off  the  feet  of  a  hundred  pigs  as  I 
did  of  one,  in  very  sooth  methinks  God 
would  have  said,  '  Well  done.'  '* 

Whereat  St.  Francis  said  very  severely, 
and  with  righteous  zeal : 

''  Brother  Juniper,  why  hast  thou 
271 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

caused  so  great  a  scandal  ?  Not  without 
reason  doth  this  man  complain  of  us ; 
he  is  perhaps  already  noising  it  in  the 
city.  Wherefore  I  command  thee,  by 
thy  obedience,  that  thou  run  after  him 
till  thou  come  up  with  him,  and  throw 
thyself  on  the  ground,  and  confess  thy 
fault,  promising  to  make  such  satis- 
faction that  he  may  have  no  cause 
to  complain  of  us,  for  of  a  truth  this 
has  been  too  grievous  an  offence/' 

Brother  Juniper  marvelled  much  at 
the  words,  being  surprised  that  anyone 
should  be  angry  at  so  charitable  a  deed. 
He  answered  • 

^^  Doubt  not.  Father,  that  I  will 
straightway  pacify  him  ;  why  should 
he  be  so  disquieted,  seeing  that  this  pig 
was  rather  God's  than  his,  and  that 
great  charity  hath  been  done  thereby  ?  '' 

Francis  was  constantly  journeying 
about,  preaching  in  all  the  villages 
through  which  they  passed,  as  well  as 
in  the  castles  which  frow^ned  down  on 
them,  founding  new  houses  of  the 
272 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

Order  in  and  near  the  larger  towns ; 
he  travelled  great  distances,  and  carried 
everywhere  with  him  the  element  of  joy, 
showing  it  forth  in  the  lovely  hymns 
which  he  and  his  Brothers  carolled  along 
the  high-road  to  lighten  the  fatigue  of 
their  journeys. 

Reading  the  Ftoretti,  one  feels  intim- 
ately acquainted  with  several  of  the 
Brothers  Minor, — with  gentle  Fra  Leone, 
''the  little  sheep  of  God";  with  Fra 
Rufino,  styled  by  Francis  *'  one  of  the 
three  most  holy  souls  in  the  world "  ; 
with  Fra  Masseo,  who  seems,  in  one 
recorded  instance,  to  have  affected  in- 
credulity in  regard  to  the  saint's  humility. 

In  those  days  the  Portioncula  and 
its  village  were  surrounded  by  a  wood, 
and  St.  Francis  often  said  his  prayers 
therein  ;  one  day  as  he  came  from  them, 
he  was  met  at  the  entrance  of  the  wood 
by  Fra  Masseo  of  Marignano,  a  man  of 
much  sanctity,  discretion,  and  grace, 
for  the  which  cause  St.  Francis  loved 
him  much. 

s  273 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Said  Masseo,  ''  Why  to  thee  ?  Why 
to  thee  ?     Why  to  thee  ? '' 

Quoth  Francis,  ''  What  is  thy 
meaning  ? " 

Brother  Masseo  answered : 

"  I  say,  why  doth  all  the  world  come 
straight  to  thee  ?  and  why  do  all  men 
long  to  see  thee,  to  hear  thee,  and  obey 
thee  ?  Thou  art  not  a  man  comely  to 
look  at^  thou  hast  not  much  learning, 
thou  art  not  noble  :  whence  is  it,  then, 
that  to  thee  the  whole  world  comes  ?  " 

Hearing  this,  St.  Francis,  all  over- 
joyed in  spirit,  lifting  up  his  face  to 
Heaven,  stood  for  a  great  while  wrapped 
in  meditation. 

Anon  returning  to  himself  again,  he 
knelt  him  down,  and  rendered  thanks 
and  praises  unto  God  ;  and  then  with 
great  fervour  of  spirit  he  turned  him  to 
Brother  Masseo,  and  said  : 

''  Wilt  thou  know  why  to  me  ?    Wilt 

thou  know   why   to   me  ?      Wilt    thou 

know  why  to  me  the  whole  world  doth 

run  ?     This  cometh    unto  me  from  the 

274 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

eyes  of  the  most  High  God,  which 
behold  in  every  place  the  evil  and  the 
good :  for  those  most  holy  eyes  have 
seen  among  sinners  none  more  vile, 
none  more  lacking,  no  worse  sinner  than 
I.  .  .  .  Therefore  hath  He  chosen  me 
to  confound  the  nobleness  and  the 
strength  and  the  greatness  and  the 
beauty  and  wisdom  of  the  world,  to 
the  intent  that  men  may  know  that  all 
virtue  and  all  goodness  come  from  Him, 
and  not  from  the  creature,  and  that 
no  man  may  glory  in  himself ;  but 
whoso  will  glory  may  glory  in  the  Lord." 

He  often  told  his  Brothers  they  must 
never  forsake  the  Portioncula,  which  he 
and  they  also  so  dearly  loved.  But  his 
strength  was  almost  spent,  and  when 
he  was  only  forty-two,  two  years  before 
his  death,  he  appointed  Brother  Bernard 
vicar-general  of  the  Order,  so  that  he 
might  give  himself  up  more  completely 
to  meditation  and  prayer  before  the 
end  came. 

He  had  founded  a  community  near 
275 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Rome,  and  appointed  a  good  and  dis- 
creet Guardian  thereto  ;  but  this  Brother 
seems  to  have  had  some  difficulty  in 
controUing  the  outbreaks  of  Brother 
Juniper,  who  had  been  sent  to  this 
Roman  home. 

There  came  a  time  when  all  the  other 
Brethren  had  to  go  out. 

Quoth  the  Guardian,  ''Brother  Juniper, 
we  are  all  going  out ;  see  to  it  that  when 
we  return  you  have  cooked  a  little  food 
for  the  refreshment  of  the  Brothers." 

Replied  Brother  Juniper,  ''  Right  will- 
ingly;  leave  that  to  me." 

Said  Brother  Juniper  to  himself,  ''It 
is  a  pity  that  one  Brother  should  always 
have  to  be  in  the  kitchen,  instead  of 
saying  prayers  with  the  rest.  Of  a 
surety,  now  that  I  am  left  behind  to 
cook,  I  will  make  ready  so  much  food 
that  all  the  Brothers  will  have  enough 
for  a  fortnight,  and  the  cook  will  have 
less  to  do." 

So  he  went  with  all  diligence  into  the 
country,  and  begged  several  large  cook- 
276 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

ing  pots ;  he  got  also  meat,  fowls,  eggs, 
vegetables,  and  firewood  in  plenty  ;  then 
he  put  all  the  eatables  in  the  pots  to 
cook,  to  wit,  the  fowls  with  their  feathers 
on,  the  eggs  in  their  shells,  and  so  with 
the  rest. 

After  a  while  the  Brothers  came  back 
to  the  home,  and  one  of  them  going  to 
the  kitchen,  saw  many  great  pots  on  an 
enormous  fire ;  he  sat  him  down  and 
looked  on  with  amazement,  but  said 
nothing,  watching  the  care  with  which 
Brother  Juniper  did  his  cooking,  and 
how  he  hurried  from  one  pot  to  the 
other.  Having  watched  it  all  with  great 
delight,  the  Brother  left  the  kitchen,  and, 
finding  the  other  Friars,  said  to  them  : 

''  I  have  to  tell  you  Brother  Juniper 
is  making  a  marriage  feast.'*  But  the 
Brothers  took  his  word  as  a  jest. 

Presently  Brother  Juniper  lifted  the 
pots  from  the  fire,  and  rang  the  dinner 
bell.  The  Brothers  sat  down  to  table, 
and  he  came  into  the  refectory  with 
his  dishes,  red-faced  with  his  exertions. 
277 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Quoth  he,  "  Eat  well,  and  then  let  us 
all  go  and  pray :  no  one  need  think  of 
the  kitchen  for  a  while  ;  I  have  cooked 
enough  food  for  a  fortnight/' 

And  Brother  Juniper  set  his  stew 
on  the  table.  But  there  is  not  a  pig  in 
the  whole  countryside  that  would  have 
partaken  of  it. 

Then  Juniper,  seeing  that  the  Brothers 
did  not  eat  thereof,  said : 

*'  These  fowls  are  strengthening  for 
the  brain,  and  this  stew  is  so  good 
it  will  refresh  the  body."  But  while 
the  Brothers  were  full  of  wonder  at  his 
simplicity,  the  Guardian  was  wroth  with 
the  waste  of  so  much  good  food,  and 
reproved  him  roughly. 

Then  Brother  Juniper  threw  himself 
on  the  ground  and  humbly  confessed  his 
fault,  saying,  ''  I  am  the  worst  of  men." 

After  this  he  went  sorrowfully  out  of 
the  refectory.  The  Guardian,  touched 
by  his  humility,  asked  the  Brethren  to 
be  kind  to  Juniper,  who  had,  with  good 
intentions,  erred  through  ignorance. 
278 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

Such  pity  had  Brother  Juniper  for  the 
poor,  that  when  he  saw  anyone  ill-clad 
or  naked  he  would  at  once  take  off  his 
tunic,  and  the  cowl  of  his  cloak,  and 
give  it  to  the  beggar. 

Wherefore  the  Guardian  commanded 
him  that  he  should  give  to  no  poor 
person  his  tunic  or  any  part  of  his  habit. 

Now  it  happened  that  a  few  days 
after,  he  met  a  poor  man  half-naked, 
who  asked  alms  for  the  love  of  God. 

'*  I  have  nothing,"  quoth  he,  ''I 
could  give  thee  save  my  tunic,  and  my 
Superior  hath  enjoined  me  not  to  give 
it  to  anyone,  but  if  thou  take  it  off  my 
back  I  will  not  say  thee  nay." 

He  spoke  not  to  the  deaf,  for  straight- 
way the  poor  man  pulled  his  tunic  off 
his  back  and  went  away  with  it. 

And  when  Brother  Juniper  returned 
to  the  house,  and  was  asked  what  had 
become  of  his  tunic,  he  answered — 

'*  A  poor  man  took  it  off  my  back  and 
went  away  with  it."  His  charity  had 
become  incessant. 

279 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

More  than  once  our  gentle  saint  had 
visited  La  Vernia,  a  bleak  and  rugged 
mountain  some  four  thousand  feet  above 
the  Casentino  valley.  On  these  occasions, 
his  friend  the  Count  Orlando  Cattani  of 
Chiusi,  had  caused  a  hut  to  be  built  for 
him  near  the  hilltop.  On  this  last  visit, 
Francis  felt  a  pressing  need  of  solitude, 
so  that  he  might  more  entirely  give 
himself  to  prayer.  He  took  with  him 
the  three  men  who  are  said  to  have 
written  the  charming  sketch  of  him, 
called,  in  the  French  version  of  it, 
La  L^gende  des  trots  CompagnonSj  Fra 
Leone,  Fra  Masseo,  and  Fra  Angelo. 

When  they  had  travelled  for  two 
days,  Francis  became  so  weak  he  could 
go  no  farther,  so  the  Brothers  found  a 
peasant  with  an  ass,  and  persuaded  him 
to  lend  it  to  their  teacher.  In  doing 
this  they  gave  his  name,  Francis  of 
Assisi. 

The   peasant   was   greatly   impressed, 
for,  throughout    Italy  and   beyond,  this 
name  was  a  name  of  power  ;  some  way 
280 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

up  the  mountain  of  La  Vernia,  or,  as  it  is 
also  called,  Alvernia,  the  peasant  leading 
the  ass  said  to  its  rider : 

''  I  hear  that  you  are  Francis  of  Assisi  ; 
well,  then,  I  will  give  you  a  bit  of  advice  : 
Try  to  be  as  good  as  people  say  you  are, 
and  then  they  will  not  be  deceived  in 
you." 

For  answer  Francis  scrambled  down 
from  the  ass's  back,  and,  kneeling  before 
the  amazed  peasant,  he  thanked  him  with 
all  his  heart  and  soul  for  his  counsel. 

There  is  a  plateau  at  the  hilltop 
surrounded  by  pines  and  huge  beech- 
trees,  but  before  reaching  this  the  whole 
party  was  so  exhausted  by  the  long 
climb  in  the  heat  of  August  sunshine, 
that  they  sat  down  to  rest  beneath  the 
spreading  branches  of  an  oak-tree.  The 
birds,  accustomed  to  live  in  solitude, 
came  fluttering  round  them,  and  settled 
especially  on  the  shoulders  and  head 
of  St.  Francis. 

When  they  reached  the  top,  Francis 
bade  his  companions  stay  in  their  cus- 
281 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

tomary  refuge  while  he  went  on  by 
himself.  He  seems  to  have  stayed 
alone,  in  a  shelter  contrived  by  the 
Brothers,  for  forty  days,  during  which 
Fra  Leone  brought  every  night  and 
morning  some  bread  and  water,  which 
he  left  at  the  door  of  the  refuge.  A 
falcon  used  to  tap  at  the  door  at  dawn 
to  awaken  St.  Francis.  He  is  said 
to  have  received  the  vision  of  the  Stig- 
mata here  on  Michaelmas  Day,  and 
soon  afterwards,  leaving  two  of  the 
Brothers  in  charge  of  the  retreat  on  the 
mount,  he  took  a  touching  leave  of  them, 
and  of  the  place  itself.  He  thanked  the 
birds  who  had  so  lovingly  welcomed 
his  arrival,  and  especially  Brother  Falcon, 
as  he  termed  it,  for  his  daily  summons. 

He  then  took  his  way,  on  horseback 
this  time,  with  as  little  delay  as  possible, 
accompanied  by  his  devoted  Leo,  till 
he  reached  the  Portioncula,  sorely  ex- 
hausted and  full  of  pain.  Still  he  was 
bent  on  starting  at  once  for  the  south, 
and  seeking  to  win  fresh  souls  for  Christ. 
282 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

His  strength  rapidly  decreased,  and  his 
sight  had  begun  to  fail  him.  He  was 
advised  to  make  a  journey  to  Rieti, 
where  Pope  Honorius,  being  driven  out 
of  Rome,  was  then  staying.  The  Pope 
had  with  him  a  famous  doctor,  who 
it  was  hoped  might  cure  St.  Francis. 
But  he  had  not  much  faith  in  earthly 
remedies,  and  declined  to  go  to  Rieti ; 
when,  however,  St.  Clare  and  some 
of  the  Brethren  pressed  him  to  spend 
a  little  time  of  rest  and  refreshment  at 
San  Damiano,  he  was  glad  to  go  there. 
Though  he  was  in  constant  suffering, 
he  seems  really  to  have  enjoyed  this 
visit.  Saint  Clare  had  caused  a  willow 
hut  to  be  built  for  him  in  her  garden, 
and  though  at  night  rats  and  mice 
tormented  him,  his  joyousness  and  his 
poetic  power  returned  with  their  early 
vigour  ;  for  it  was  during  these  weeks 
of  peaceful  outer  life,  though  blind, 
and  suffering  from  haemorrhage  of  the 
lungs,  that  he  composed  his  famous 
Canticle. 

2B3 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

It  happened  that  one  day,  while  seated 
at  table  in  the  refectory  of  San  Damiano, 
before  the  meal  began,  Francis  seemed 
all  at  once  to  be  wrapped  in  a  kind 
of  ecstasy.  When  he  roused  from  this, 
and  became  fully  conscious,  he  ex- 
claimed, ''May  God  be  praised!" 

He  had  just  composed  the  Canticle 
of  the  Sun. 

*'  Altissimu,  onnipotente,  bon  signore, 
tue  so  le  laude,  la  gloria,  e  Tonore  et 

onne  benedictione. 
Ad  te  solo,  altissimo,  se  konfano 
et  nullu  homo  ene  dignu  te  mentovare. 

Laudate  sie,  mi  signore,  cum  tucte 

le  tue  creature 
specialmente  messor  lo  frate  sole, 
lo    quale    jorna,    et    illumini    per    lui  ; 
Et  ellu  e  bellu  e  radiante  cum  grande 

splendore ; 
de  te,  altissimo,  porta  significatione. 

Laudato    si,    mi    signore,    per    sora 
luna  e  le  stelle, 

284 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

in  celu  Tai  formate  clarite  et  pretiose 
et  belle. 


Laudate    si,    mi    signore,    per    frate 

vento 
et  per  aere  et  nubilo  et  sereno  et  onne 

tempo, 
per  le  quale  a  le  tue  creature  dai  susten- 

tamento. 

Laudato  si,  mi  signore,  per  sor  acqua, 
la    quale    e    multo    utile    et    humele    et 
pretiosa  et  casta. 

Laudato  si,  mi  signore,  per  frate  focu, 
per  lo  quale  enallumini  la  nocte, 
ed  ello  e  bello  et  jucundo  et  robustoso 
et  forte. 

Laudato    si,    mi    signore,    per    sora 
nostra  matre  terra, 
la  quale  ne  sustenta  et  governa 
et    produce    diversi    fructi    con    coloriti 
fiori  et  herba. 
285 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Laudato    si,    mi    signore,    per    quilli 
ke  perdonano  per  lo  tuo  amore 
et  sostegno  infirmitate  et  tribu- 
latione. 
beati  quilli  ke  sosterrano  in  pace, 
ka  da  te,  altissimo,  sirano  incoronati. 

Laudato    si,    mi    signore,    per    sora 

nostra  morte  corporale, 
da    la    quale    nullu    homo    vivente    po 

skappare  ; 
guai  a  quilli  ke  morrano  ne  le  peccata 

mortali ; 
beata   quilli   ke   se   trovara   ne,   le   tue 

sanctissime  voluntali, 
ka  la  morte  secunda  nol  farra  male. 

Laudate    et    benedicete    mi    signore, 
et  rengratiate 
et  serviteli  cum  grande  humilitate." 

The    following   is    the    almost    literal 
rendering    by    Matthew    Arnold  : — 

''  O   most   High,    almighty,   good   Lord 
God,  to  Thee  belong  praise,  glory, 
honour,  and  all  blessing! 
286 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

Praised  be  my  Lord  God,  with  all  His 
creatures  ;  and  specially  our  brother 
the  Sun,  who  brings  us  the  day, 
and  who  brings  us  the  light ;  fair 
is  he,  and  shining  with  a  very  great 
splendour :  O  Lord,  he  signifies  to 
us   Thee ! 

Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  sister  the 
moon,  and  for  the  stars,  which  He 
has  set  clear  and  lovely  in  heaven. 

Praised  be  our  Lord  for  our  brother  the 
wind,  and  for  air  and  cloud,  calms 
and  all  weather,  by  the  which  Thou 
upholdest  in  life  all  creatures. 

Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  sister  water, 
who  is  very  serviceable  unto  us, 
and  humble,  and  precious,  and  clean. 

Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  brother  fire, 
through  whom  Thou  givest  us  light 
in  the  darkness  ;  and  he  is  bright, 
and  pleasant,  and  very  mighty  and 
strong. 

Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  mother  the 
earth,  the  which  doth  sustain  us, 
and  keep  us,  and  bringeth  forth 
287 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

divers  fruits  and  flowers  of  many 
colours,  and  grass. 

Praised  be  my  Lord  for  all  those  who 
pardon  one  another  for  His  love's 
sake,  and  who  endure  weakness 
and  tribulation  ;  blessed  are  they 
who  peaceably  shall  endure,  for 
Thou,  O  most  Highest,  shalt  give 
them  a  crown ! 

Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  sister  the 
death  of  the  body,  from  whom 
no  man  escapeth.  Woe  to  him 
who  dieth  in  mortal  sin !  Blessed 
are  they  who  are  found  walking  in 
Thy  most  holy  will,  for  the  second 
death  shall  have  no  power  to  do 
them  harm. 

Praise  ye  and  bless  ye  the  Lord,  and  give 
thanks  unto  Him,  and  serve  Him 
with    great    humility." 

He  lingered  many  weeks  at  San  Dami- 

ano,  being  greatly  refreshed  by  the  sweet 

peace  he  found  there,  and  his  gentle  and 

sympathetic  talks  with  his  early  convert, 

288 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

St.  Clare,  who  seems  to  have  been  as 
capable  and  practical  as  she  was  good 
and  holy.  After  a  while  she  persuaded 
him  to  journey  to  Rieti,  and  take  the 
advice  of  the  doctors. 

At  Rieti  all  those  who  had  previously 
known  him  were  greatly  shocked  by 
the  change  in  his  health.  The  doctors 
seem  to  have  tormented  him  by  their 
efforts  to  restore  his  sight,  even  brand- 
ing his  forehead  with  red-hot  irons ; 
Francis  bore  all  with  the  utmost  patience 
and  sweetness,  striving  to  conform  him- 
self to  the  pattern  set  by  his  Divine 
example. 

When  he  at  last  set  forth,  to  return 
home,  he  could  go  no  farther  than  Assisi ; 
Bishop  Guido  had  sent  him  a  pressing 
invitation  to  stay  in  his  palace,  while 
a  strong  guard  was  appointed  to  protect 
him  on  the  way,  the  fame  of  his  sanctity 
having  made  him  so  precious  that  it 
was  feared  an  attempt  might  be  made 
to  capture  his  poor  suffering  body. 

His     four     most     devoted     followers 

T  289 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

nursed  him  through  the  weeks  that 
followed,  these  were  Leo,  Angelo,  Masseo, 
and  Rufino. 

He  remained  some  months  at  Assisi, 
and  amid  his  worst  sufferings  poured 
out  such  hymns  of  joy  and  thankfulness, 
that  Fra  EHa,  who  doubtless  was  already 
coveting  the  power  that  would  so  soon 
be  in  his  grasp,  remonstrated  with  the 
dying  saint. 

Sick  persons,  Elia  said,  were  expected 
to  edify  others  by  their  resigned  and 
saintly  demeanour,  not  by  singing  so 
loud  that  they  could  be  heard  outside 
the  palace  walls.  Francis  had  often 
asked  his  companions  to  join  in  his 
songs ;  his  own  sweet  voice  had  become 
feeble. 

He  had  more  than  ever  need  of 
joy,  for  with  the  best  intentions  one 
of  his  most  saintly  companions  was 
troubling  his  peace  by  recounting  the 
changes  worked  in  the  simplicity  of  the 
Rule  which  Francis  so  dearly  cherished  : 
how  larger  monasteries  were  erected  for 
290 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

the  increasing  communities,  instead  of 
the  small,  roughly  built  houses  which 
he  had  always  prescribed  as  suited  for 
the  abodes  of  begging  friars ;  friars 
vowed  to  possess  nothing  of  their  own. 
Francis  listened,  but  he  had  already 
seen  these  changes  :  he  bade  the  Brother 
have  faith  and  trust  in  God,  and  never 
to  forsake  the  Rule  or  the  Portioncula. 

Soon  after  this  he  expressed  a  wish 
to  return  to  the  little  shrine  if  he  had 
power  to  make  the  journey,  adding 
quaintly : 

''  I  cannot  go  so  far  afoot,  my  Brothers ; 
you  must  be  good  enough  to  carry  me/* 

Half-way  to  the  Portioncula  he  bade 
his  bearers  stop.  Raising  his  hand,  he 
gave  his  last  blessing  to  the  town  of 
Assisi,  which  he  could  no  longer  see 
because  of  his  blindness. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  he  asked  Fra 
Leo  to  summon  by  letter  the  Lady 
Jacoba  dei  Settesoli,  a  widow  who  lived 
in  Rome,  being  the  mother  of  two  Roman 
senators.  He  knew  her  devotion  to  him, 
291 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

and  to  the  Franciscan  Orders,  and  he 
feared  she  would  grieve  if  he  did  not 
bid  her  farewell. 

Just  as  the  letter  was  finished,  a 
trampling  of  horses  was  heard  outside, 
and  Madonna  Jacoba  appeared ;  she 
had  felt  anxious  about  her  beloved 
teacher,  and  had  set  forth  of  her  own 
accord  to  see  him. 

She  was  only  just  in  time ;  very  soon 
afterwards,  having  dictated  his  testa- 
ment and  received  the  last  rites,  he 
passed  away. 

All  Italy  mourned  him,  but  the  grief 
of  the  people  of  Assisi  was  indescribable. 
On  the  way  to  his  burial  place  in  San 
Giorgio  the  procession  stopped  outside 
San  Damiano,  so  that  Clare  and  her 
Sisters  might  come  forth  and  take  a 
last  farewell  of  their  revered  Father. 

The  death  of  St.  Francis  has  been 
well  told  by  Miss  Lina  Duff  Gordon  in 
The  Story  of  Assisi. 

The  more  one  studies  the  life  of  this 
gentle  saint,  who  lived  and  worked  for 
292 


SANTA  MARIA  DEGLI  ANGELI 

the  love  and  glory  of  God ;  the  devotion 
shown  in  his  ardour  to  save  souls ; 
the  practical  help  he  gave  to  all;  his 
complete  abnegation  of  self,  and  the 
happiness  which  he  showed  to  be 
the  duty  of  every  one,  the  more  one 
wonders  at  the  frequent  persecution  of 
Franciscans.  They  seem  to  be  best 
off  at  La  Vernia.  When  we  at  last 
drove  away  from  Assisi,  along  the  dusty 
roads,  which,  to  those  who  read  the 
Fiorettiy  are  full  of  flower-like  memories 
of  the  sweet  -  natured  saint  and  his 
favourite  companions,  Fra  Leone,  Fra 
Egidio,  Fra  Masseo,  and  others,  the  sun 
was  setting  gloriously  ;  Subasio  glowed 
like  a  carbuncle  as  it  reflected  the  gold 
and  scarlet  splendour  opposite,  and  while 
this  glow  faded  slowly  into  purple,  the 
long  line  of  the  houses  of  Assisi  blushed 
like  a  rose  beside  the  mountain.  We 
watched  till  the  purple  became  a  rich 
grey,  painted  with  pale  brown  tints, 
while  the  sky  just  above  the  ridge  of 
hills  was  palest  green,  changing  into 
293 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

yellow  above.  Long  lines  of  purple 
barred  these  delicate  tints,  and  on  the 
bluer,  now  cool,  sky  opposite  lay 
rounded  masses  of  white  cloud  with 
grey  under-edges. 

It  was  dark  before  we  drove  up  the 
steep  road  into  Perugia,  and  reached 
our  comfortable  quarters  in  the  Hotel 
Brufani. 


294 


CHAPTER  XIV 
ADDIO  PERUGIA 

SEPTEMBER  had  nearly  fled,  yet 
the  leaves  in  the  Tronto  garden 
had  hardly  begun  to  change  colour ; 
the  air,  however,  was  now  extremely 
cold  as  soon  as  the  sun  had  departed. 
The  wine-carts  which  daily  thronged 
the  streets  warned  us  that  the  vintage 
would  soon  be  over. 

Day  after  day,  as  we  looked  from 
our  windows  in  early  morning,  we  saw 
flocks  of  sheep  with  their  attendant 
shepherds,  and  herds  of  goats  coming 
down  in  great  numbers  from  the  moun- 
tains. They  trooped  past  our  windows, 
and  took  their  way  along  the  dusty 
road  towards  the  Maremma. 

The  poor,  tired  herdmen  looked  pictur- 
295 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

esque  in  ragged  thin  trousers  and  patched 
coats  ;  they  wore  high-peaked  hats,  and 
had  a  sort  of  make-beUeve  appearance 
as  they  trudged  along  on  foot  behind 
their  beasts.  Every  now  and  then  came 
a  padrone  mounted  on  a  mule,  sometimes 
on  a  horse,  with  quaint  trappings  ;  he 
always  carried  a  long  pole  and  a  huge 
roll  of  green  baize  in  front  of  him.  We 
did  not  see  any  women  or  children,  but 
we  were  told  that  the  shepherds  take  their 
families  along  with  them  in  these  spring 
and  autumn  migrations,  for  they  will  go 
back  to  the  hills  as  soon  as  winter  is 
over.  As  we  watched  them  we  felt 
sadly  that  we  too  must  soon  say  good- 
bye to  Perugia. 

One  of  our  last  walks  was  to  Monte 
Luce ;  and,  coming  back  towards  Perugia, 
we  stopped  and  watched  the  sun  set ; 
as  it  sank  behind  the  purple,  bleak  hills 
the  sky  above  them  was  blood-red ; 
higher  up,  stretched  in  long  broad  lines, 
was  a  mass  of  greenish  slate-coloured 
clouds.  On  the  right  these  were  reft, 
296 


ADDIO  PERUGIA 

and  showed  a  sea  of  golden  glory ; 
while,  still  higher,  clouds  of  paler  grey- 
sailed  over  a  rosy  veil  that  stretched 
itself  across  a  sky  of  luminous  green. 
As  we  went  on,  the  blood-red  tint  paled 
and  faded ;  the  clouds  above  took  a 
darker  hue,  and  loomed,  with  storm- 
laden,  broken  edges,  over  the  deep  valley 
that  lay  between  where  we  stood  and 
the  projecting  bastion,  a  view  crowned 
by  the  weird  tower  of  San  Domenico. 
This  stood  up  in  startling  vividness 
against  the  almost  appalHng  gloom  that 
had  so  quickly  gathered. 

Around  us  the  view  opened  widely, 
the  triple  range  of  hills  showed  a  sullen 
grey  of  differing  tints ;  on  some  of 
them,  where  the  light  was  lurid  with  a 
tawny  tinge,  it  was  plainly  raining ; 
yet,  although  thunder  seemed  imminent 
in  the  humid  clouds  that  hung  lower  and 
lower  over  the  valley,  we  were  told  that 
probably  there  would  not  be  a  storm 
at  Perugia.  Certainly,  we  had  perfect 
atmosphere  and  perfect  weather.  The 
297 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

hill -city  seemed  to  us  in  all  ways  very 
healthy  —  a  place  where  winter  and 
spring,  summer  and  autumn,  might 
alike  be  spent  with  charm  and  profit 
by  those  travellers  who  love  the  nature 
and  art  of  Italy. 


298 


CHAPTER  XV 


LAKE  THRASYMENE  AND 
CORTONA 

most  interesting  part  of  the 
journey  to  Cortona  is  the  view 
of  Lake  Thrasymene,  with  its 
reedy  shores  and  islands,  near 
the  picturesque  Httle  town  of 
Passignano. 
As  one  leaves  the  station  below  Cor- 
tona, and  mounts  the  hill  to  the  grandly 
placed  town,  Thrasymene  comes  in  sight 
again,  and  adds  much  to  the  beauty 
of  the  landscape.  It  is  almost  worth 
while  to  go  to  Cortona  for  the  sake  of 
the  drive  up  from  the  station,  and  the 
exquisite  view  from  the  city  walls, 
ponderous  marvels  of  stone-work.  But 
Cortona  is  not  a  desirable  place  to  sleep 
299 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

in.  The  inn,  when  we  stayed  there,  was 
not  at  all  comfortable,  and  although 
the  town  is  placed  at  such  a  height, 
the  moss  growing  outside  the  houses 
tells  how  damp  is  the  atmosphere. 

If  Perugia  had  seemed  ancient,  Cortona 
appeared  antediluvian.  According  to  the 
old  historians,  Perugia  sent  soldiers  to 
fight  against  Troy,  but  Cortona  boasts 
of  having  given  birth  to  Dardanus,  the 
founder  of  Assisi. 

It  was  late  afternoon  when  we  reached 
the  top  of  the  hill,  and  when  we  took 
our  way  from  the  inn  through  the  hilly, 
twisting  streets  to  the  Porta  Colonia,  the 
sun  had  already  set,  although  the  sky 
still  glowed. 

Lake  Thrasymene  looked  pale  and 
weird  against  the  olive  landscape. 
Before  us  was  a  deep  valley  backed  by 
a  warm,  purple  mountain  ridge  ;  behind 
us  was  the  stupendous  Etruscan  wall. 
We  followed  the  course  of  this  down 
the  steep  descent,  for  Cortona  is  built 
on  the  side  of  a  rocky  hill  which  yet 
300 


OF  THE 


THRASYMENE  AND  CORTONA 

towers  above  it.  The  blocks  of  travertine 
in  the  wall  are  even  larger  than  those 
at  Perugia.  Nestling  between  them,  we 
found  a  wealth  of  ferns  ;  ceterach  and 
several  delicate  aspleniums  growing  freely 
among  these  grim  records  of  past  ages. 

Suddenly,  while  we  were  stooping  to 
look  closely  at  the  ferns  in  the  fading 
light,  there  came  to  us,  as  if  from  the 
clouds,  a  full- voiced  chant;  deep  organ 
notes  swelled  above  the  sweet  tones  of 
treble  voices. 

We  looked  up  and  saw  that  a  convent 
is  built  above  the  walls.  We  stood  for 
some  time  on  this  side  of  the  hill  listening 
to  the  aerial  music.  Behind  us  was  the 
deep  purple  of  the  valley, — the  vast  plain 
below  was  changing  into  a  brown  olive, 
a  wild,  desolate-looking  expanse ;  but 
there  was  overhead  a  peculiar  clearness 
of  atmosphere. 

The   young    moon   hung    high    above 

the  convent  towers  ;  its  light  helped  us 

to  find  our  way  over  the  rough  ground, 

till  at  last  we  reached  one  of  the  city 

303 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

gates,  and  went  back  through  the  dark 
streets  to  our  inn. 

There  was  not  a  deserted  or  sleepy  look 
about  the  place.  People  were  gossiping 
and  trafficking  in  the  streets,  and  there 
were  plenty  of  customers  in  the  shop 
we  went  into. 

Our  bedroom  at  the  inn  looked 
alarmingly  dismal ;  large  and  lofty,  it 
contained  an  enormous  four-poster  with 
a  heavy,  dark  green  canopy  and  curtains. 
Everything  looked  and  smelt  damp  ;  but 
when  we  asked  to  have  the  bed  aired, 
our  host  said,  ''Such  a  thing  is  imposs- 
ible at  this  time  of  year.'' 

Next  morning  we  found  a  busy  market 
on  the  hilly  Piazza.  The  town  hall 
is  here,  and  some  women  spreading  out 
orange  and  scarlet  handkerchiefs  in  the 
loggia  above  gave  colour  to  the  scene  ; 
but  the  people  looked  somewhat  squalid 
and  dirty  after  our  bright  Perugians ; 
moreover,  Cortona  folk  are  indifferent 
and  sometimes  uncourteous  to  strangers. 

We  turned  into  a  side  street  to  see  a 
304 


THRASYMENE  AND  CORTONA 

fine  palazzo  ;  then,  crossing  the  market- 
place, went  on  to  the  Palazzo  Pretoria. 
The  walls  of  this  building,  both  in  the 
street  and  those  round  the  inner  quad- 
rangle, are  curiously  decorated  with 
small  shields  bearing  the  arms  of  ancient 
magistrates;  they  reminded  us  of  the 
Bargello  walls  in  Florence. 

We  went  upstairs,  and  were  told  that 
the  custode  of  the  museum  was  not  in, 
but  if  we  waited  he  would  be  sure  to 
come  soon.  We  had,  however,  to  send 
more  than  one  messenger  in  search 
of  him  before  he  appeared.  There  are 
many  Etruscan  and  some  Roman  anti- 
quities in  this  museum,  but  its  chief 
treasure  is  the  famous  candelabrum. 
This  holds  sixteen  lamps ;  between  each 
lamp  is  a  head  of  Bacchus,  while  eight 
satyrs  and  eight  sirens,  placed  alter- 
nately, form  a  marvellously  rich  border. 
Within  this  circle  is  represented  a  fight 
with  wild  animals,  then  waves  and 
fish,  with  a  Medusa's  head  as  centre. 
The  colour  of  the  candelabrum,  an 
307 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

exquisite  mingling  of  blue  and  bronze, 
is  beautiful.  Near  it  is  a  painting  on 
stone — a  female — said  to  be  very  ancient. 
After  the  museum  we  went  into  the 
cathedral ;  the  pictures  painted  by  Luca 
Signorelli  for  his  native  town  are  here. 


BRONZE    CANDELABRUM. 


Luca  was  born  at  Cortona,  and  was  a 
pupil  of  Piero  della  Francesca.  Near 
the  choir  is  a  beautifully  carved  marble 
tomb,  in  which  the  people  believe  the 
Consul  Flaminius  was  buried  after  the 
battle  of  Thrasymene. 

We  had  not  time  to  visit  the  baptistery 
308 


THRASYMENE  AND  CORTONA 

opposite,  which  also  contains  pictures  by 
Luca  and  by  Era  AngeUco.  We  were 
anxious  to  see  the  view  from  the  church 
of  Santa  Margherita,  above  the  town. 
Her  statue  stands  just  outside  the 
cathedral ;  a  little  dog  crouches  at  her 
feet. 

Margherita  was  not  a  native  of  Cor- 
tona  ;  she  lived  for  pleasure  only ;  on 
her  repentance  she  entered  a  Franciscan 
convent  here,  and  passed  a  life  of  charity 
and  holy  penitence  for  her  sins.  Her 
conversion  is  said  to  have  taken  place 
on  the  sudden  death  of  one  of  her  lovers. 

As  he  left  her  house,  accompanied 
by  his  little  dog,  he  was  assassinated. 
The  little  dog  came  back  to  Margherita' s 
house,  and  by  its  cries  attracted  her 
notice ;  it  then  pulled  at  her  gown, 
till  it  induced  her  to  follow  to  where 
her  lover  lay  dead.  For  this  reason 
Santa  Margherita  is  always  represented 
with  a  little  dog  beside  her. 

We    went    along    the    road    past    the 
platform,    where   there   is    a   fine   view 
309 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

over  the  Chiana  valley,  and  turned  in  to 
old  San  Domenico  to  see  the  pictures. 
The  campanile  of  this  church  is  a  pictur- 
esque feature  of  Cortona.  We  could 
only  see  two  of  the  pictures,  neither 
of  them  very  remarkable.  Another  was 
being  restored,  the  custode  said.  The 
walk  from  this  point  up  to  Santa 
Margherita  was  dehghtful.  The  sun- 
shine was  brilliant,  and  the  air  had  a 
delicious  touch  of  autumn  crispness. 
The  way  beside  the  wall  is  steep,  but 
there  are  constant  views  over  the  country, 
and  gradually,  as  we  mounted.  Lake 
Thrasymene  revealed  itself  in  pale  blue- 
green  loveliness;  a  projecting  hill,  how- 
ever, partly  blocks  the  view,  and  only 
allows  about  half  of  the  lake's  grand 
expanse  to  be  seen.  The  yellow  turf 
was  gay  with  wild  flowers,  some  of  them 
rare  specimens.  When  we  at  last  reached 
the  church,  we  were  rewarded  for  our 
climb. 

Santa    Margherita  was   designed  and 
probably  built  by  Niccolo  and  Giovanni 
310 


THRASYMENE  AND  CORTONA 

Pisano,  but  it  has  been  very  much 
restored;  the  view  from  its  platform 
is  magnificent.  In  front  is  a  screen 
of  tall  cypresses,  between  which  the 
purple  hills  show  exquisitely.  The 
spacious  church  originally  designed  by 
Niccolo  Pisano  has  been  re-modelled, 
but  there  is  a  beautiful  monument  to 
Santa  Margherita  by  Giovanni  Pisano. 
Santa  Margherita' s  tomb  reminded  us 
of  Pope  Benedict's  at  Perugia.  The 
saint  lies  sleeping  with  her  little  dog 
at  her  feet ;  in  a  bas-relief  she  yields  her 
soul  to  angels,  who  bear  it  to  Heaven. 

The  Fortezza  behind  the  church  is 
said  to  command  a  still  finer  view,  but 
we  were  quite  satisfied  to  sit  on  the 
flowery  turf  enjoying  the  surpassing 
loveliness  below  us.  Hills  and  valleys, 
far-reaching  plains,  the  still  lake,  and 
the  sky  overhead,  seemed  to  vie  with 
one  another  in  beauty,  yet  to  blend 
into  such  perfect  harmony  that  the 
sensation  of  gazing  was  one  of  complete 
repose. 

3U 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

Down  a  long,  long  flight  of  irregular 
steps  we  found  our  way  to  the  quaint 
little  church  of  St.  Nicholas.  While  we 
sat  gazing  we  had  watched  a  woman 
go  down  these  steps,  so  we  felt  sure 
they  would  lead  us  somewhere ;  they 
took  us  to  the  queerest  little  up-and- 
down  village  imaginable,  a  village  of 
mendicants ;  every  one  begged  of  us,  the 
children  being  very  pertinacious. 

One  bright-eyed  monkey  of  a  boy, 
with  bare  brown  legs  and  feet,  and  a 
red  cap  stuck  over  one  eye,  followed 
us  down  the  broken  way,  dancing  and 
chattering  as  he  came.  All  at  once  he 
stopped  and  pointed  to  three  younger 
children,  sitting  in  a  mud  pool  outside  a 
cottage  door,  even  more  ragged  and  dirty, 
but  quite  as  bright-looking  as  he  was. 

I  asked  him  if  he  had  a  father  or  a 
mother,  but  he  shook  his  head. 

'' Oime,  Signora! — io  son  padre  di 
famigha,*'  he  said,  with  a  merry  laugh, 
and  he  pointed  again  to  the  black-eyed 
urchins. 

312 


THRASYMENE  AND  CORTONA 

We  joined  in  his  laugh;  his  face 
and  his  tiny  outstretched  hand  were 
irresistible.  He  shouted  for  joy  when 
we  dropped  a  coin  into  it ;  after  this, 
at  the  end  of  every  turning  we  passed, 
there  was  our  bright-eyed,  dirty  little 
beggar,  with  outstretched  brown  hand 
and  the  sauciest  of  smiles.  When  we 
shook  our  heads  at  him  he  capered 
away,  the  soles  of  his  slender  brown 
feet  almost  as  high  as  his  head. 

The  little  church  of  San  Nicola  is 
hidden  away  among  the  houses,  with 
a  quaint  little  grassed  cloister  court 
in  front  of  it,  and  a  row  of  ancient 
cypresses.  On  one  side  is  a  little  cloister 
walk  ;  a  vine-covered  pergola  supported 
itself  by  filling  up  the  small  space 
inclosed.  In  the  church  is  an  altar 
picture,  painted  on  both  sides,  this  is 
said  to  be  one  of  the  last  works  of  Luca 
Signorelli.  The  fresco,  said  also  to  be 
his,  has  been  much  restored.  This  little 
church  belonged  to  a  confraternity,  and 
the  seats  still  remain  along  the  sides 
313 


PICTURES  IN  UMBRIA 

of  the  front  court  in  which  the  Brethren 
have  sat  in  council,  or  from  which  they 
have  enjoyed  the  view  over  the  wall 
that  borders  this  quiet  cloister. 

As  we  drove  rapidly  downhill  to 
the  station,  we  looked  at  the  country 
through  a  silver  veil,  for  the  olive-trees 
are  larger  here  than  at  Perugia,  and  they 
literally  cover  the  first  part  of  the  steep 
descent, — so  steep  that  the  road  has  to 
descend  by  terraces  zig-zagged  along  the 
side  of  the  hill. 

We  had  told  our  red-haired,  blue- 
eyed  driver  to  take  us  to  the  Etruscan 
grotto,  and  he  presently  stopped  at  a 
rough  break,  with  large  stones  placed  so 
as  to  form  irregular  steps. 

The  man  was  in  fear  lest  the  horse 
should  run  away,  and  was  greatly  ex- 
cited. He  went  on  chattering  patois  to 
that  effect ;  but  though  I  told  him  I 
was  quite  able  to  climb  up  by  myself, 
he  would  stand  at  the  top  of  the  steps 
hauling  me  up  with  one  hand  and 
3H 


THRASYMENE  AND  CORTONA 

flourishing  his  whip  with  the  other,  as 
if  he  were  performing  a  circus  feat. 

We  left  him  there,  and  presently 
entered  a  solemn  grassed  avenue  of 
gigantic  cypresses,  their  pale  grey  stems 
gleaming  in  the  sunlight.  This  avenue 
slopes  upward,  and  at  the  end  the 
ruined  grotto  shows  between  the  lines 
of  tall  dark  trees  ,  it  is  very  curious, 
circular  in  form,  with  neatly  finished 
compartments  in  it  for  the  urns.  These 
have  all  been  taken  away ;  only  part  of 
the  circular  top  of  the  sepulchre  remains, 
lying  near  the  ruined  stone  ;  but  even  in 
its  fractured  state  it  is  very  impressive ; 
alone  on  the  hillside,  screened  from  the 
immense  prospect  before  it  by  a  sur- 
rounding of  olive-trees.  As  we  drove 
down  to  the  railway,  far  below  us,  it 
seemed  to  us  it  had  been  quite  worth 
while  to  stay  at  Cortona  for  the  sake 
of  this  wonderful  drive  down  the  steep 
hillside  ;  but  the  town  is  probably  safer 
from  damp  in  August  than  we  found  it 
in  October. 

315 


INDEX 


Alunno,  Niccolo,  75. 

Statue  of.  81. 
Angelus,  the,  136. 
Apennines,  7. 
Assisi,  way  to,  165. 
Albergo  Subasio,  1 76. 
Carceri,  le,  224. 
Chiara  Scifi,   or  S.   Clare, 

conversion  of,  244. 
Churches — 
S.  Chiara,  249. 
S.    Damiano,    214-216, 

252,  283. 
S.  Francesco,  campanile, 
180. 
Lower  church,  179. 
Cloister  garden,  201. 
Upper  church,  202. 
S.  Giorgio,  233. 
S.    Maria    degli    Angeli, 
172,  260. 
Rose  garden,  262. 
S.  Maria  Maggiore,  234. 
Nuova,  233. 
S.  Paolo,  233. 
Cathedral  of  S.  Rufino, 
232. 
Fra  Egidio,  240. 
EUa,  194. 
Leone,  168. 
Masseo,  273. 
S.     Francis,     birth     and 
parentage,  206;  dream 
of,    208;    visits    lazar 
house,      210;     breaks 
with  his  friends,  211; 
his  father's  anger,  213; 
goes   to   S.    Damiano, 


214;  conversion  of, 
215;  markets  at  Folig 
no,  215;  renounces  the 
world,  221;  converts 
Bernard  and  others, 
'^17  \  goes  to  Rome, 
241;  gains  Pope's 
sanction  to  Order  of 
Brothers  Minor,  242; 
lives  at  Rivo  Torto, 
242 ;  preaches  in  S. 
Rufino,  245 ;  founds 
second  Order  the  Poor 
Clares,  248;  visits  the 
Soldan,  266;  his  last 
visit  to  La  Vernia,  280 ; 
vision  of  the  Stig- 
mata, 282;  visits  S. 
Chiara,  283;  com- 
poses Canticle  of  the 
Sun,  284;  visits 
Bishop  Guido,  289 ;  re- 
turns to  the  Portion- 
cula,  29 1 ;  Madonna 
Jacoba  di  Settesoli 
visits  him,  291 ;  he 
dies,  292. 

Brother  Juniper,  268,  276, 
279. 

Palazzo  Sbaraglini,  239. 
Scifi,  244. 

Piazza  S.  Maria  Maggiore, 
221. 

Porta  Cappucini,  224. 
Nuova,  214. 

La  Portioncula,   235,   243, 
247,  260,  265,   268. 

Rocca  di  Assisi,  255. 


317 


INDEX 


Assisi — 

Roman  Assisi,   232. 
Temple  of  Minerva,  231. 
Tomb  of  S.  Francis,  193. 

Baglione,    Astorre,    48,    49, 
52,  53. 
Atalanta,  47,  58,  59,  62. 
Gianpaolo,    56-58,   60,  61, 

63,  65. 
Grifonetto,    50-53.  55.  59. 

61,  62. 
Simonetto,  48. 
Baglioni,  the,  45-47. 
Bergamo,     Damiano     and 

Stefano  da,  intarsia  by,  126. 
S.   Bernardino  of  Siena,   33, 

37. 
Bevignate,  Fra,  3^. 
Bonfigli,  Benedetto,  5,  73. 

Cacciolfo,  87. 
Cimabue,  190. 

Frescoes  by,  202. 
Cortona,  299. 

Candelabrum,  307. 
Cathedral,  308. 
Church    of    S.    Domenico, 
310. 
S.  Margherita,  310. 
S.  Nicholas,  313. 
Etruscan  grotto,  315. 
Palazzo  Pretoria,  307. 

Dante's    mention    of   Assisi 

and  of  S.  Francis,  175. 
Ducci,  Agostino,  105. 

FOLIGNO,  81. 
Cathedral,  82. 
S.     Maria     infra     Portas, 

83. 
S.  Niccolo,  83. 
Palazzo  DeU,  83. 
Tribunale    del    Commune, 
82. 
Forte  Braccio,  39,  43,  44- 
Fra  Angelico,  75,   112. 


Giotto,  188.  , 

Frescoes  by,  188,  192,  195, 

205. 
Guidalotti,  Abbot  of  S.  Pietro 

de'  Casinensi,  42. 

Keys  of  Assisi  and  Siena,  34. 

LoRENZETTi,  Pictro,  of  Siena, 

191. 
Lorenzo,  Fiorenzo  di,  7$,  74, 

233: 

I  S.  Margherita,  309. 

I  Martini,  or  Memmi,  Simone, 

i       of  Siena,  192. 

I  Matarazzo,  46,  54,  64. 

I  Michelotti,  Biordo,  42,  43. 

I  Montefalco,  83. 

Nelli,  Ottaviano,  frescoes  by, 
82. 

Perugia,  i. 

Belle  arti  Albergo,  10. 
Bellucci,  Signor,  17. 
S.    Bernardino    of    Siena, 
111-118. 

Oratory  of,  97,  105,  ill. 
Betti,  Signor,  15,  16. 
Brufani  hotel,  10. 
Cappella  del  Cambio,  72. 
Charms,  17-20. 
Churches — 

S.  Agata,  loi. 

S.  Angelo,  158. 

S.  Bernardino,  105. 

S.  Domenico,  23. 

S.  Ercolano,  14,  133. 

S.  Lorenzo,  35. 

Madonna  di  Luce,  102. 

S.  Maria  Assunta,  134. 

S.  Maria  Nuova,  40. 

S.  Pietro  de'  Casinensi, 
119. 

S.  Severo,  38. 
Corso,  32. 
Cupa,  La,  138. 


318 


INDEX 


Perugia — 

Piero  della  Francesca,  69,  73. 

Daybreak  at,  ii. 

Pinturicchio,  87-89. 

El  gran  tradimento,  54 

-57- 

Pisano,     Giovanni,     n,     34, 

Etruscan  wall,  15. 

184. 

Fontana  Borghese,  79. 

Pisano,  Nicolo,  11. 

Fonte  Maggiore,  33. 

Ponte  San  Giovanni,  80. 

Griffin,  34. 

Sunsets,  128. 

Market,  24. 

Veduta,  La,  119. 

Monte  Luce,  134. 

Mosaic  pavement,  148. 

Raffaelle,  3,  4. 

Palazzo  Antinori,  151. 

Rocci  di  Vicenza,  87. 

Baglione,  14. 

Rossi,  34. 

Canonica,  33. 

del  Capitano  del  Popolo, 

Sabatier,    Monsieur     Paul, 

27. 

171,  206. 

Pubblico,   or   Comunale, 

Sanzio,  Giovanni,  3. 

32,  34.  35. 

Savonarola,  37. 

Passeggiata  Pubblica, 

119. 

Spello,  84. 

Perugino,  4.  5.  73- 

Amphitheatre,  91. 

House  of,  1 01. 

Capuchin  Convent,  91. 

Piazza  del  Duomo,  32, 

35. 

Churches — 

41. 

Santa    Maria    Maggiore, 

dei  Gigli,  38. 

87. 

Grimani,  16. 

Capella  del  Sacramento, 

Monte  Sole,  38. 

87. 

del  Papa,  36. 

Frescoes  in,  87. 

Sopra  Mura,  24. 

San  Andrea,  89. 

Vittor  Emanuele,  14. 

Porta  Augusta,  92. 

Pinacoteca,  69,  75. 

Porta  Veneris  of  Hispellum, 

Pope  Benedict  xi.,  statue 

84. 

of,  24. 

Spoleto,  43,  200,  209. 

Boniface,  123. 

Subasio,  Monte,  7,  80,  81. 

Julius  III.,  statue  of. 

36. 

Paul  III.,  13,  66. 

Tasso,  Domenico  del,  intar- 

Porta  Augusta,  151,  15 

2. 

sia  by,  70. 

Buligaia,  156. 

Thrasymene,  Lake  of,  300. 

Costanzo,  119,  129. 

Trevi,  87. 

Eburnea,  142. 

Marzia,  13,  15. 

Ugolino,    Bishop    of    Ostia, 

S.  Pietro,  129. 

265. 

S.  Angelo,  158. 

Susanna,  13. 

Vannucci,  Cristoforo,  4. 

Sala  del  Cambio,  69,  70 

Vannucci,  Pietro,  4,  70. 

Tombs  of  theVolumnii, 

130. 

La  Vernia,  224. 

Via  Appia,  143. 

S.  Vincent  Ferrier,  113. 

Women,  28,  29,  30. 

Piccinino,  Nicola,  44. 

3 

Witches,  belief,  in,  20. 

ft  8  A  «^'7^ 

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>'    Trtt              X 

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